RYLAN GRIMES, Kennewick

Sometimes I wish we could completely regress as a nation so we can remember what America was like back when visionaries like John D. Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie ruled supreme on the backs of their work force.

It was a time when we didn't merely work to live but we instead worked to survive, when going to work was the difference between eating and starving. Only then would we understand where we have been and where those who failed to heed the lessons of history would take us.

This country needs laws that level the playing field, it needs an organized work force so the middle-class can survive and thrive. In the last 30 years, we have seen a decrease in the growth of every wage category save the one-percent, thanks to the failed top-down economics.

Sure, in America if you try hard enough, you can reach your dreams. But it would be impossible and unrealistic for everyone to ascend to the level of the 1 percent. Many of us merely want to live our lives making honest pay with reasonable working conditions. And when things go belly up, those who can most afford it, should help fix it and stop blaming everyone else.