The conservatives have had their way. For over a quarter century, American policy has been dominated by conservative ideas, policies and leaders. President Bush’s self-declared "CEO administration" has pushed through tax cuts favoring the rich and corporations, as well as legislation promoting privatization, deregulation and corporate-driven trade policies. They've weakened worker rights at home and abroad, rolled back environmental and consumer protections and locked in massive budget deficits, sticking working families with the bill for far into the future.

The results are working for the elite, those Bush once jokingly called "my base." Corporate profits are up, and CEOs and top management are pocketing record percentages of the take. The average compensation of a CEO in 1980 was about 40 times that of the average worker in the company. In 2005, it was more than 400 times. Taxes on wealth and corporations have been slashed.

Meanwhile, American consumers wake to find their pets poisoned by food imported from abroad and their children endangered by toys with dangerous levels of lead. Rapacious corporations don’t police themselves unless exposed. Corporate lobbies and conservative ideologues have disemboweled public agencies that protect consumers or the environment, at the very moment soaring global imports mandate greater concern and accountability.

Corporate-friendly economic policies and trade deals are cutting workers out of a fair share of the wealth they produce. Productivity has increased, but workers haven't seen the benefits in their paychecks. In 2005, households had to work more hours to pay for three basic expenses — housing, transportation and medical care — than at any point in the past 25 years. Add the cost of day care, because it takes two incomes to keep up with the bills, and it’s a recipe for overstressed families.