I was incredibly touched to hear the news that, as part of your action to stand with the 99% of Americans suffering in our broken economy, you read out loud an article that I wrote for Fox News.  In it, I wrote that the question is not how Occupy Wall Street protesters can find gross inequality immoral.  “The question is why every one of us isn’t protesting with them.”  I am sorry I cannot be there with you today but am greatly flattered that my words of support provided you some strength and comfort as the sting of inequality continues to chill your bones.

While I live in New York and Zuccatti Park is my “home occupation” so to speak, I’m intensely moved by the protests and occupations in towns like yours, where the American dream seems as broken down as the old factories that once fueled your economy.  Just as your ancestors built those factories, and the farms before them, with their own hardworking hands, by standing up and speaking out you’re rebuilding the America they fought and died for.  Today, financial speculation transactions add up to $1.3 trillion dollars each day, more than 50 times the sum of all commercial exchange in the United States.  In other words, the American economy has long abandoned entire states like South Carolina in favor of a few blocks on Wall Street.  Fortunately, South Carolina has not abandoned America.

Thank you for your vision.  Thank you for your bravery.  Thank you for your creativity.  Thank you for your generosity.  Thank you for your risk-taking.  Thank you for your leadership.  Thank you for reminding all of us about the America we have always strived to be.