I’m angry and I’m frustrated. And perhaps like me, you don’t recognize the country you live in anymore.

It’s not just the rabid partisan politics or the dour national mood driven by our deepening recession; it’s simply the lack of compassion for our disadvantaged compatriots. It’s the drumbeat of ideological dogma that focuses more on spending cuts than the real and growing needs of jobless and desperate families.

There is tremendous pain in our country. Too many Americans now live on the hard edge of human existence. They feel shamed and powerless. We must break through three decades of conservative propaganda that has convinced us that we have little collective responsibility for our neighbors in need.

It’s time to take collective action.

It’s time to organize the unemployed and underemployed, those fearful of losing a job, the family and friends of the unemployed, the foreclosed and indebted, the workers under assault, the chronically poor, our threatened seniors and our jobless youth.

All must be joined together. We must act now.

Building a social movement that can make real change possible does not happen by accident. It requires preparation, training and infrastructure. It is designed to energize people and foster their involvement. It reinforces belief and the power of people to act on that belief. It demands change and ensures that it takes place.

Can we do it? Of course we can.

Every generation inherits a challenge that defines us as a people and as a nation. Our challenge is upon us.

Will you stand with us?