RHODE ISLANDERS have a responsibility to recommit themselves to hope for our collective future and to a belief that the American dream can be possible for all in the Ocean State; to strengthen the social safety net, rebuild the ladder to the middle class, and give every family and every individual the chance to get ahead.

On the radio and in the news we hear a lot about divisions in our state, about how we’re separated by ideology, race, ethnicity and religion, wealth and opportunity. Our governor chooses to publicly exploit these divisions — pitting Rhode Islanders against one another through blame, judgment and accusation. In recent remarks he’s attacked single mothers, condemned their children, and cast unfair moral judgments against low-income people. Rhode Islanders deserve better leadership than this.

But I was raised in Rhode Island and on a hope that I believe most of us share, not just for ourselves but for one another, the hope of a job with wages that support a family, affordable health care to stay well and to count on when sick, a dignified and secure retirement, education and opportunity for our kids, a hope in freedom and the American dream.

What makes all of us uniquely American is that we don’t just want this dream for ourselves; we want it for one another. We want it for the kid who doesn’t go to college because she can’t afford it; for the worker who is wondering if he will have a job, or if his wages will pay this winter’s heating bill; for the foster children who aren’t sure where they will live next; and we want it for the children and adults living without health care.

When just one of our neighbors is denied the opportunity to achieve the American dream, our own dreams are diminished. In fact, thousands of us volunteer because we want to spread hope in this dream.

But today, here in Rhode Island, the American dream is expensive — and the cost is rising faster than ever before. While some have prospered beyond imagination, middle-class Rhode Islanders — and those working hard to become middle-class — are seeing the American dream slip further and further away and with it, their hope.

My bet is, you feel it. All of us are working harder for less and paying more for basics. For most of us, one income isn’t enough to raise a family. Sometimes, two incomes aren’t enough. It’s harder — if not impossible — to save. Despite working hard, it seems that we’re just barely getting by. In Providence, foreclosures are soaring because families desperate to achieve the dream of home ownership have been robbed by unregulated predatory mortgage lenders. Just in the last few days, the front pages of the Providence Journal have highlighted the hunger, homelessness, and record numbers of people with utility shutoffs — and even, devastating cuts to Meals on Wheels.

Charity isn’t enough to solve these problems.

We don’t have to accept this deterioration of the quality of life for ourselves, our families, our neighbors. We do not have to accept tax cuts that only benefit our most wealthy, while making the load heavier for working people. We don’t have to be deceived by unfair attacks on union families that are fighting for livable wages without questioning the soaring compensation for those at the very top of the income ladder. We don’t have to allow children to be denied RIte Care while for-profit insurers take millions out of our state’s health care system. And we don’t have to forgo safe and affordable child care or investments in our public schools without carefully scrutinizing the millions in special tax treatments given to multinational corporations.

There is a better way. This is not a question of sacrificing economic advantages to promote a vibrant business climate at the expense of meaningful support for all Rhode Islanders. We can have both. But, we must be bold enough to take the steps needed to move our state forward. We must be willing to stand together behind the common purpose of reclaiming our hope in the American dream. It is a dream worth fighting for — for ourselves and for each other.

Visit www.prioritiesri.org to learn how you can stand with your neighbors to win back hope, opportunity, and the chance at the American dream for every Rhode Islander.

Karen Malcolm is the executive director of Ocean State Action.