Poverty in America: Truth Hurts, Ignorance Kills

[JeffR]

"(1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.

(2) Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection."

– adopted and proclaimed December 10, 1948 by the General Assembly of the United Nations

Sixty years later, the signatories of this declaration might be shocked at the lack of progress in making these simple principles a reality. Nowhere is that lack of progress more paradoxical than in the United States of America.

In a nation where urgent public policy priorities are legion, why is poverty not at the top of the list? Why is it deemed acceptable or intractable? And why do so many believe that the poor are "others" when in fact they are a large and growing proportion of "us"?

"A 1997 study by University of Michigan economist Rebecca Blank found that one third of all U.S. residents will experience government-defined poverty within a 13-year period." – The Poor Will Always Be With Us: Just Not on the TV News, Neil deMause & Steve Rendall,

"The official poverty line – about $20,000 a year for a family of four – is an arbitrary one, created in the 1960s and only adjusted for inflation since then. Over time, it has fallen steadily further from the social mainstream: It used to be about 50 percent of median income; now it's about 30 percent. Studies of a minimally decent standard of living routinely find that the typical cost is twice as high as the poverty line, or higher. Ninety million Americans – nearly one-third of the nation – have household incomes below twice the poverty line, a figure far larger than the 'official' number of 37 million in poverty." – Mark Greenberg,

The deMause and Rendall study quoted above is a jaw-dropping indictment of mainstream media's failure to report the truth. But the so-called progressive community and its news outlets have been little better, consistently avoiding poverty in favor of a host of seemingly more "fashionable" causes.

While the Fourth Estate bears much responsibility for our ignorance about poverty, so do our elected officials. For some, lying came easily:

"You can't help those who simply will not be helped. One problem that we've had, even in the best of times, is people who are sleeping on the grates, the homeless who are homeless, you might say, by choice." –

For others, a mixture of wishful thinking and self-congratulatory rhetoric helped to obfuscate policy failure and cloud public debate:

"When I sign {the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act}, we all have to start again, and this becomes everybody's responsibility. After I sign my name to this bill, welfare will no longer be a political issue." –

Democratic politicians are still fond of citing FDR's and LBJ's heroic efforts at fighting poverty, as if victory has been won, as if those efforts had not long ago been subverted by corporatist zealots and think-tank propagandists.

Republicans, by contrast, are not simply in denial. Hostility toward the poor is enshrined in their ideological thousand points of blight, and they can generally count on complicity from the other side of the aisle.

On the campaign trail, we heard a lot from President Elect Obama about the dichotomy between Wall Street and Main Street, and the dangers facing the middle class. What he seldom spoke of are the streets where the poor live, or where they wander homeless, betrayed by a nation's faltering commitment to affordable housing and social justice. Perhaps campaign strategists and pollsters decreed that such topics didn't "test well" with voters.

Yet the President Elect has also written eloquently about poverty in The Audacity of Hope. Of any national politician in the past three decades, he seems closest to being someone who understands something about the systemic causes and mechanics of the poverty trap. So, at least, I hope.

Recently I wrote about a grassroots commitment to making January Poverty in America Awareness Month, a personal campaign to help ensure that poverty remains high on the Obama Administration's agenda, and on media radar screens. The response here was very heartening. I'd humbly ask that you and take some time this month to raise awareness about poverty, homelessness and hunger, and to advocate for real change on these issues.

This is not a substitute for other actions we can and must take to fight poverty. If we have time, energy and money to contribute, then of course we should.

Yet we can also help break through the de-facto media blackout and help politicians understand that poverty must be recognized as a central challenge of what Barack Obama, quoting Martin Luther King, has referred to as "the fierce urgency of now."

To this end, four members of the DU community will be contributing essays on the next four Fridays, covering "old poverty" versus "new poverty", economic injustice, listening to those closest to the problem, and the role of the media. They will be lending their voices to what must become a mighty chorus if poverty in America is ever to be ended.

I urge you to watch for these posts and to join your voice with theirs.

I wish everyone a peaceful, hopeful and happy 2009. There are none who deserve this more than the poor among us.

This project is dedicated with love to the late Sapphire Blue, who did so much to keep poverty issues front and center at DU.



This essay is reposted in full by permission of peoplesing.org.

Feel free to use the graphic below in your signature line, but please don't hotlink. PM me if you have any questions.

[G_j]

1. a BIG Rec, and thank you!

excellent post

[NanceGreggs]

2. Off to the GP ...

... with a :kick:!!!

[bobbolink]

3. "the fierce urgency of now."

And it ain't the rich folk who are in urgent need!

Thanks for this..... stunning!

Maybe it will open some hearts!

[AntiFascist]

4. Trickle-down economics supports social Darwinism...

the best way to support the economy at this point is from the bottom up. There is an oversupply of housing and cars yet more and more people are joining the ranks of the impoverished. Something is terribly wrong and getting worse.

[babylonsister]

5. "The fierce urgency of now", and it's going to get worse. Rec'd for more eyes. nt

[Baby Snooks]

121. Much worse...

The sad reality is that Congress is more intent on bailing out the corporations than the American people. More intent on protecting the crooks than protecting their victims.

I still get ill thinking about Nancy Pelosi's comment about the Pink Ladies. That it was a shame she couldn't have them arrested the way she could have homeless people arrested.

Apparently quite a few of her constituents agreed with that comment and returned her to Congress.

Apparently quite a few of her peers in Congress agreed with that comment as well.

It will get worse. It will get much worse. And the elitists, the oligarchists, the Republicrats who are the real majority in Congress, will not care. Neither will quite a few Democrats along with quite a few Republicans whom Fate has been kind to.

It is too easy to just blame the victims. They brought it on themselves. They should have worked harder. They should have been more wise in their investments. They should have gotten a second job. They should just get a job. They should just go away.

I really have little hope for this country. We are, it seems, truly a falling empire.

[offog]

134. Good comments on poor-bashing, Baby Snooks!

From original message: "Republicans, by contrast, are not simply in denial. Hostility toward the poor is enshrined in their ideological thousand points of blight, and they can generally count on complicity from the other side of the aisle."

Republicans/conservatives keep saying that they don't hate the poor, and then treat them like crap. It goes beyond blaming the victim. Conservatives see the poor as third-class citizens who don't deserve to have any rights. I don't know about American newspapers, but I've seen this attitude displayed in the business pages of Canadian newspapers, especially in the National Post, the newspaper founded by Conrad Black. (The National Post is really scary. Their contempt for the poor is thick enough to cut with a knife.)

Over the last few years, I've noticed plenty of griping about how those non-taxpaying, free-loading low-income losers always vote against the free-enterprise party; they should stay out of the way and let successful people make the decisions. Every time there's a protest about poverty and/or homelessness, the reaction is "We pay taxes, you don't, STFU!"

You're right when you say "It will get worse. It will get much worse." I think it's about middle-class squeeze, which is going to get worse with the way the economy is going. Remember your Sociology 100. When people go through hard times, they look for someone to blame, and they usually take it out on people at the bottom of the ladder.

[EFerrari]

6. K&R

Thank you, JeffR

[anonymous171]

7. K&R This is why I am a democrat. nt

[pl259]

8. When altruism begins to exist, a utopia is possible. Right now, it isn't.

Unfortunately.

[truedelphi]

176. Not sure that altruism is needed. just plain common sense.

If we could capture one half of what the USA spends on wars and weaponry and equipment and the Halliburton, Blackwater etc monies, and spent that sum on food, medicine, schools, art and music, life would be a paradise on earth.

[yellerpup]

9. To Sapphire Blue

K&R! Let's create a future where no one remembers what it was like to be hungry.

[bobbolink]

14. YEs, absolutely. Sapphire Blue tried so hard to get DUers to respond

and was often discouraged and upset at the lack of concern.

This is for her... let's make this fly!

[yellerpup]

69. This is what I remember about being broke and the mental effect

it had on our family. http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=230x4065

[JNelson6563]

104. Amazing story.

:hug:

[yellerpup]

123. Thank you.

:hug:

[wellstone dem]

10. Daily, I am humbled by the strength and goodness of others.

Yesterday I went to visit a woman in the hospital. She is near death. Her caregiver, an adult foster care provider, for the last 15 years of her life is a woman, Joan, who has serious health problems herself. I first got to know Joan, nearly 30 years ago. Joan, had grown up in poverty, and had eventually found her calling as a community service worker with a Community Action Program. There was no homeless shelter in our community, so when the police found someone who needed housing, they called Joan. She would give these strangers shelter in her home. I'm a fairly decent human being, but I'm not that good.

Joan had a tough life. She's had at least 3 husbands since I've known her. Her most recent husband died a few years ago. Joan's in her 60s or 70s now. She called me because the woman she has cared for is at a point where someone needs to decide about the machines that are used to keep her alive. So I went to the hospital and bought a cup of soup for Joan, and we talked about these tough decisions. I didn't to anything more, but when I left Joan said she felt more calm inside.

This is just one story of a woman who has spent her life, a very hard life, making the way easier for others.

I will try to do the same for even one month. What a world we could create if we all did this.

[truedelphi]

64. Thank you for sharing your story about Joan. n/t

[JeffR]

107. Thank you for sharing that story, wellstone dem

As tough as things are for so many, how much worse would things be if there were no people like Joan?

[JNelson6563]

124. Thanks for this post.

Just goes to show that no matter how few one's resources, everyone can make a difference.

Julie

[EFerrari]

11. Don't forget the quiet twin: Mental illness no laughing matter for one comedian

From David Mattingly and Bob Melisso
CNN NewsStand

SAN FRANCISCO (CNN) -- Doug Ferrari is quite possibly one of the funniest people around. By all accounts, his name should have been up in lights, one of the biggest talents on the comedy stage. But an insidious form of mental illness stepped in instead, and Ferrari wound up on skid row.

At 6 feet 5 inches, the only thing bigger than Ferrari is the laugh he can get from an audience. And strangely, his biggest laughs come from the darkest of personal experiences.

"I don't want to say I did a lot of cocaine," he told an audience recently, "but there are statues of me all over Colombia."

Ferrari broke into the San Francisco comedy scene in the early 80's by performing for passengers on city buses. But as a solo act, he immediately stood out from the crowd. Eventually, he took audiences by storm on the club circuit, winning a standup comedy competition in 1984.

http://archives.cnn.com/2000/HEALTH/08/29/newsstand.ferrari/

[bobbolink]

18. That's just increasing the stigma... it's time to stop this untruth.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=230&topic_id=3924&mesg_id=3924

[EFerrari]

19. With respect, bobbolink, you may associate mental illness with stigma.

I associate it with poverty and with unmet needs.

[bobbolink]

20. And what you're doing is increasing the stigma.

I gave you a link, I wish you'd read it.

It's unfair of you to keep up this fight, when there is so much work to be done. You keep doing this, even though you've had the truth given to you. This is NOT right to push this on someone else's message.

I'm sorry for you and the grief you've gone through. But pushing this causes so much NEEDLESS pain for others, and it's time for the truth to come out, instead of perpetuating the Raygun lies.

Enough of this pain for the rest of us!

[EFerrari]

22. Actually, you are asking those of us who deal with poverty BECAUSE

of mental illness in the family to shut up. Between 40-60% of the homeless people in my city need mental health care and they are not getting it.

If you need to stigmatize those people, that's your problem.

If thinking about mental illness causes you pain, maybe you should stop doing it.

[Fireweed247]

42. 16%

"According to a study by the US Conference of Mayors in 2005, approximately 16% of the homeless population suffers from a mental illness."


A larger percentage of homeless are veterans, not sure of the number, but if we focus on this statistic that might change many close minded people's thoughts about the situation.

[maryf]

48. 16 %

is not much different than the general population, as Bobbie said in another thread we have to stop separating into groups, all homeless need help and the first thing they need is a home.

[Two Americas]

49. also...

We define mental illness as "not fitting in, not prospering, not happy with things the way they are, not willing or able to accept things the way they are.

What sane person would comfortably fit in given the inspeakably cruel and destructive paradigm we are being forced to fit in to?

I think there is a far higher percentage of people who are mentally ill among the prosperous than there are among the homeless. Far higher. Furthermore, it is the metal illness of the prosperous that is the cause of poverty.

If mental illness causes poverty and homelessness, then how come it goes up and down according to material conditions and not the other way around? First people are exploited, then they are impoverished, and only then do we suddenly see more "mental illness."

[Naturyl]

65. Wonderful post.

Undoubtedly "mental illness" is defined in a thoroughly self-serving manner. As you suggest, what person with a conscience could possibly be "well-adjusted" in this bizarre materialistic society?

I disagree, however, that "mental illness" prevails among the wealthy. Rather, what prevails in that master class is greed and evil. And, as you correctly point out, it is the attitudes of the rich that are the cause of poverty, not the attitudes of the poor. Blaming the poor for their own condition is the penultimate Raygun lie.

[EFerrari]

89. You are confusing mental illness with sociopathy.

Mental illness doesn't mean "people I don't like".

[Kajsa]

102. Good points, TwoAmericas.

Mental illness afflicts people from all backgrounds
and income levels.

However, as you stated, the day to day survival mode of the homeless
is horrendously brutal.
When you are afraid to fall asleep, for fear of what will happen to you,
it takes its toll psychologically.
When you are the victim of random, violent attacks which happened
recently in my city, constant fear becomes part of your life.

I can't imagine what that is like, but I do
understand the effects that survival mode has
on the brain.

[Kajsa]

108. Btw,

Since semantics have been
questioned here,

Sociopathy IS a mental disorder,
as in mental illness.

I find the homeless are more fearful
and mistrusting than sociopathic.

Given their living conditions, I
would be too.

[bobbolink]

163. A very gentle but emphatic "thank you", kajsa!

You are stating it right to the point.

It's so sad that someone would attempt to highjack a thread like this to spread disinformation.

Sometimes all I can do on DU is shake my head in wonderment.

HOWEVER, finally there are people like you who aren't afraid to buck this mentality, even though it's the popular one, and bring the reality to light.

I appreciate you very much! :pals:

[Fireweed247]

70. "the first thing they need is a home"

When I think about all of the homes sitting empty due to foreclosures, and all of the money OUR MONEY the government just handed out to their already rich buddies in the bailout(looting)...if they just spent a tiny fraction of that amount buying homes and setting up more homeless shelters and communal living arrangements...

but THE LEAST they could do is take care of the Veterans that return from war, who are in dire circumstances because of their service to our country, and then it would be that much easier to take care of the rest of the homeless in our local communities.


From the National Coalition of Homeless Veterans
http://www.nchv.org/background.cfm
"How many homeless veterans are there?

"Although accurate numbers are impossible to come by -- no one keeps national records on homeless veterans -- the VA estimates that nearly 200,000 veterans are homeless on any given night. And nearly 400,000 experience homelessness over the course of a year. Conservatively, one out of every three homeless men who is sleeping in a doorway, alley or box in our cities and rural communities has put on a uniform and served this country. According to the National Survey of Homeless Assistance Providers and Clients (U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness and the Urban Institute, 1999), veterans account for 23% of all homeless people in America."


I remember reading that even Saddam Hussein set up communities for his veterans to live in for free, with visiting nurses where they could live and interact with other veterans.

I agree about not separating into groups, but teaching people about the amount of homeless Veterans is a way to reach the emotionally challenged that normally have no compassion because they might at least feel something for those they believe have been 'defending our freedom'. If it stopped one of those idiots from driving around and yelling at them 'get a job' then the education will be worth it.

[Kajsa]

112. Empty homes+ people who have no home,

=a solution to homelessness.

if only profit margins
weren't in the way-----

[EFerrari]

88. SAMHSA say 39% reporting with 20-25% meeting the criteria for severe mental illness.

And do you really believe in your heart that people with "closed minds" to mental illness will have open ones for poverty?

[Two Americas]

91. they have an agenda

They have an agenda to approach social and political problems as mental health issues. I think it is a matter of seeing what you expect to find.

I do think that, if anything, treating political problems as mental health issues may well close people's minds to political solutions to problems such as homelessness, yes.

[EFerrari]

128. In the years I've worked on both problems, I've found SAMHSA

to be more reliable than most. If anything, they aren't as interested in mental health as they are in other areas and their numbers are AS low as their interest. NAMI has to fight them for funds and attention. No, it's not at all a matter of seeing what you want to find.

Health care is a political problem in this country. And it is intimately tied to housing. If anything, we need to be extra vigilant of health care for the people living in poverty and especially, the homeless.

In any case, that's enough of hijacking Jeff's thread.

[Two Americas]

130. no problem

I agree with what you are saying here.

[JNelson6563]

97. Here in Michigan

That asshole Gov. of ours at the time (John Engler) closed all the psych. hospitals with the stroke of a pen. There was such a hospital here in my city and the patients were just put out of there. I think they got some help finding places to live (the cheapest shit holes to be found, of course) and then they were on their own. This was years ago and yet you can still see them from time to time, poor souls, wandering around confused.

No doubt as the economy in MI has been crashing and burning, the assistance to these most vulnerable of citizens has dwindled. It is to our eternal shame.

Julie

[Two Americas]

52. yes and no

We don't want to be putting an oxygen mask on the canary in the coal mine and calling that a solution.

The problem is not merely that the canary cannot breathe, the problem is that someone is stealing the oxygen from the mine shaft and pumping in toxic fumes.

[OneGrassRoot]

136. K&R n/t

[glowing]

37. Mental illness is on par with inadequate healthcare system we have in America.

AND that mental illness is looked at even worse than having cancer. The fact that people who need healthcare are homeless is even worse.. but what is really going on is that in the class war, the top percent are winning, and the rest of us are begging for scraps. Human Rights are a right.. once we understand this, we understand that we cannot allow one person to go without food, shelter, or medical care. I think Bobo is upset at trying to push the issue of homlessness as a result of mental illness.. when in fact, it is a result of the failure of us as a society to reach out to one another as brother's and sister's and to take care of one another.

If you think homeless = drunk or crazy, you don't think about fixing it or fund it or worry about it or think it can happen to you or throw the issue into the box with the rest of the pet projects liberal progressives love to help with. Human Rights are human rights... we do for our least, and then we are strong. AND if we are all in the business of human rights, wars, famine, disease, women's rights, children's rights.. they kind of take care of themselves since acting in the best interest of human rights settles whether we bomb another country or whether men put women into submissive roles or whether we allow children to be used as slaves.

[Two Americas]

47. cause, or effect?

We rarely look at wealthy people and analyze them to see what might be wrong with them. But those who are not prosperous, we presume that there is something wrong with them. We find what we see because we are looking for it.

What homeless person would not show symptoms that could be categorized as "mental illness?" That is not necessarily a cause, it is an effect.

I think we need to be very careful here.

Why are greed and bullying not seen as mental illness? - so long as the person "wins," as measured by the size of their bank account.

[maryf]

50. catch 22

Who would not be enraged to be homeless, who would not be depressed to be egregiously poor, it would be insanity not to be one or both. The insanity comes from those without hearts, those who don't care about their fellow human beings. WAKE UP!! People are dying in the streets in our country!! People are freezing to death, starving to death, dying of lonliness, scared to get help because they may be locked up because they are "crazy", who's not crazy? Those who don't care??? I'd rather be crazy than heartless myself...And the homeless are no less sane than anyone else (remember only 16%), again, except the heartless...

[Two Americas]

56. Aspen

Remember my stories about the wealthy from my conversations with the help who work with a broad cross-section of very "successful" people? Foaming at the mouth, angry, ranting and raving, mistreating everyone, obsessive compulsive, demanding, narcissistic, obnoxious, delusions of grandeur, impatient, greedy, selfish and insanely driven. Those are the qualities that are needed to be a "winner."

[maryf]

58. those are the people

who create homelessness...the one's who won't allow the "help" to look at them...

[Naturyl]

66. So true. Thank heavens I'm a "loser."

What does it profit a man to gain the world and lose his soul?

[midnight]

73. This is so interesting, because if you were to lable a poor person

with these traits, they would be sent to a mental institution for an evaluation.

[EFerrari]

90. You are interpreting mental illness as some kind of blame.

Do you realize that?

I think you need to be careful here.

[Two Americas]

126. no I 'm not

I am sympathetic to the wealthy.

Are you sure it is the mentally ill you are defending, or is it the mental health industry and people who work in it?

The problem with inserting the subject of mental health into a discussion about poverty and homelessness is that it quickly dominates the discussion. People are anxious to avoid the conclusions that a political discussion lead to, and latch onto mental illness as a cause and mental health services as the solution. I suspect that we are going to see this more and more in the coming days, with critics and dissidents and radicals described as mentally ill. I have already seen that a few times here. Since almost all definitions of mental illness are founded on assessing a person's ability to function in society, and whether or not they think and behave within social norms, and if they adjust to reality, times of social upheaval pull the foundation for that premise away. People's inability to function within society is as much a political as it is a personal problem, as is people's rejection of or resistance to socially accepted "reality," and willingness to think and act within the bounds of social norms.

The idea that we should approach social problems on an individual level, and that if we could diagnose and treat people for mental illness that we would eliminate the causes of social problem is often no more that the modern "enlightened" and "rational" version of the old religious notion that if we treat people's spiritual sickness on an individual level that this is the path - many say the only path - to solving social problems. Spiritually based programs actually have a higher success rate than programs based on medical models, as far as that goes.

I think there is some promise in mental health studies and practices, and have no objection to whatever religion people wish to pursue. However, I am suspicious when either is presented as a replacement for politics in solving social problems. The mental health field is so corrupted by its association with wealth and power, from corruption by various corporations to the influence of and domination by the Pentagon and CIA, that the line between helping people and controlling people is blurred, and that is another reason to be suspicious of the use of mental health models in political discussions.

I am convinced that we would see a dramatic drop in mental illness with social re-organization through collective political action. I am also convinced that no amount of the application of mental health treatment and services will cause any improvement in social conditions.

[EFerrari]

129. I fought the mental health establishment for more than a decade

both for my own family and for other families for their failure to deliver even the most basic technology.

And you are assigning claims and aims to me that I don't have, TA. It's all right. This topic generates a lot of heat.

I once keynoted at a conference of Healthcare for the Homeless in DC. It was a great program and had outlets in every state, in every major city and in some smaller ones. There was no question of people needing economic justice OR health care among that group. They were good people, and all weekend we wore buttons that said, "Housing IS Healthcare". :)

[Two Americas]

131. understood

You are one of the good guys.

[OneBlueSky]

12. there was a time, not so long ago . . .

when this nation actually initiated a so-called "War on Poverty" . . . now it may not have been the be-all and end-all for ending poverty, but at least it was an acknowledgement that poverty exists and that we, as a nation, should do something about it . . . when did we lose that sensibility? . . .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_on_Poverty

The War on Poverty is the name for legislation first introduced by United States President Lyndon B. Johnson during his State of the Union address on January 8, 1964. This legislation was proposed by Johnson in response to the difficult economic conditions associated with a national poverty rate of around nineteen percent. The War on Poverty speech led the United States Congress to pass the Economic Opportunity Act, a law that established the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO) to administer the local application of federal funds targeted against poverty.

As a part of the Great Society, Johnson's view of a federally directed application of resources to expand the government's role in social welfare programs from education to healthcare was a continuation of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal and Four Freedoms speech from the 1930s and 1940s.

The concept of a war on poverty waned after the 1960s. Deregulation, growing criticism of the welfare state, and an ideological shift to reducing federal aid to impoverished people in the 1980s and 1990s culminated in the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, that Bill Clinton claimed "end welfare as we know it." Nonetheless, the legacy of the War on Poverty remains in the continued existence of such federal programs as Head Start and Job Corps.

- more . . .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_on_Poverty

[dajoki]

54. Yes, "The War on Poverty"...

was very succdssful in reducing the number of poor, the poverty rate took a huge drop whe the "Great Society programs were initiated only to rise again when Reagan started cutting all the social programs.

[JeffR]

110. And yet it seems a thousand years ago now somehow.

It's no coincidence at all that the Reagan assault on democracy began with an attack on the most powerless and vulnerable. That Morning in America he and his acolytes were so fond of blathering about was a cold and threatening morning for millions. And as with all things Reagan, the Bushistas have worked hard to perfect the concept: the aftermath of Katrina, the treatment of the wounded veterans created in the tens of thousands by the Bush wars, the strangling of federal funding for state programs that actually helped people.

What has happened over the last 28 years - portrayed accurately and comprehensively - will be among the saddest, most infuriating chapters in the story of America.

[cottonseed]

13. Kick, and looking forward to reading these essays.

[glowing]

15. If we stand behind the Human Rights Declaration, then we begin to unify our voices as one:

The idea is to bring everyone along. Everyone is ENTITLED to certain securities and rights. It makes the rest of the crap and the think tanks and the rich and war machines scared shitless. If we stand on this one principal and fight for it in one voice over all of our pet projects, then many of our pet projects will disapear because Human Rights and the entitlement to those rights enacted worldwide would eliminate many of the problems and issues that the pet projects scatter us towards. Solidarity on these rights will allow our country and our planet to finally move into a new world where sharing and caring are more important than screwing over the next guy, then they lose.

Stand together, take the pledge, and make it happen:

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 25:

"(1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.

(2) Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection."

– adopted and proclaimed December 10, 1948 by the General Assembly of the United Nations

[bobbolink]

21. December 10, 1948, and here we are.

:cry:

"If we stand on this one principal and fight for it in one voice over all of our pet projects, then many of our pet projects will disapear because Human Rights and the entitlement to those rights enacted worldwide would eliminate many of the problems and issues that the pet projects scatter us towards. "

That is so profound! And yet, so simple, if only we would take it seriously!

:pals:

[glowing]

28. If only, indeed.

[Two Americas]

63. June 27, 1936

The brave and clear platform adopted by this convention, to which I heartily subscribe, sets forth that government in a modern civilization has certain inescapable obligations to its citizens, among which are protection of the family and the home, the establishment of a democracy of opportunity, and aid to those overtaken by disaster.

But the resolute enemy within our gates is ever ready to beat down our words unless in greater courage we will fight for them.

For more than three years we have fought for them. This convention, in every word and deed, has pledged that the fight will go on.

The defeats and victories of these years have given to us as a people a new understanding of our government and of ourselves. Never since the early days of the New England town meeting have the affairs of government been so widely discussed and so clearly appreciated. It has been brought home to us that the only effective guide for the safety of this most worldly of worlds, the greatest guide of all, is moral principle.

We do not see faith, hope, and charity as unattainable ideals, but we use them as stout supports of a nation fighting the fight for freedom in a modern civilization.

Faith - in the soundness of democracy in the midst of dictatorships.

Hope - renewed because we know so well the progress we have made.

Charity - in the true spirit of that grand old word. For charity literally translated from the original means love, the love that understands, that does not merely share the wealth of the giver, but in true sympathy and wisdom helps men to help themselves.

We seek not merely to make government a mechanical implement, but to give it the vibrant personal character that is the very embodiment of human charity.

We are poor indeed if this nation cannot afford to lift from every recess of American life the dread fear of the unemployed that they are not needed in the world. We cannot afford to accumulate a deficit in the books of human fortitude.

In the place of the palace of privilege we seek to build a temple out of faith and hope and charity.

FDR
Speech before the 1936 Democratic National Convention
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
June 27, 1936

[JeffR]

111. Very good point, glowing.

"Scattered" is exactly the way it is now. "United" is exactly the way forward to social justice.

[ColbertWatcher]

16. Thank you. k+r, n/t

[azmouse]

17. To bobbolink:

I hear, I read, I understand...

[Two Americas]

61. seconded n/t

.

[Blue_In_AK]

23. K&R

[Cleita]

24. Those articles should be written into our Constitution. K&R

[Joe Chi Minh]

25. The way the politicians and their paymasters have accepted the homelessness

of innumerable citizens of theirs, in the US and in Europe, is all part of the degeneracy that has led to this economic crisis. In fact, of course, with this sub-prime villainy they've increased the number of homeless - while incompetent and/or crooked finance chiefs have diverted billions in bail-out money, the people's taxes, to their own pockets. I'm all right Jack.

Well, now the economic right wing has finally disgraced itself beyond reprieve, and it will be an awful long time before they'll be able to b.s. people in future. Sanity must return, as it did in the UK, after WWII. The country belongs to the people, not the cancerous tumour of the far right.

[bobbolink]

27. What you say is true. But it's deeper than that. The POPULATION has accepted

homelessness, and accepted the Raygun lies of "mental illness", lazyness, etc.

The people don't care that there is homelessness... they just don't want to see it.

And the people is US. WE, THE PEOPLE!

[Joe Chi Minh]

32. Yes, you are absolutely right. My allusion to national degeneracy was

not specific enough. If they hadn't been so complacent because they thought they were sitting pretty, they would have pressured the politicians.

[bobbolink]

33. YEs. That's the problem with a democracy. It's ALL of us...

and ALL of us have decided to accept homelessness, and blame lazyness, "mental illness" and all that Raygun shit.

Just as long as we don't have to see it.

Nothing will change until we decide it's NOT ACCEPTABLE IN THE RICHEST COUNTRIES OF THE WORLD.

[Selatius]

59. People only accept homelessness if their neighbor is the one that lost his house, but...

they stop accepting it when they are the ones who lose the house. The thing with Americans is that they are more self-centered in terms of outlook than most other populations in the industrialized world. In every country on earth, there is a relationship between the community and the individual. One usually is the stronger force, but in the US, individualism is something that is pretty powerful, even among industrialized nations. Yes, Americans are communal to a certain extent; all populations the world are to a certain extent, but in the US, it is almost as if it is nothing more than lip service. Nowhere else in the EU or Japan or Australia is the mythos of "rugged individualism" and material pursuits so pervasive, so entrenched, and so encouraged as it is in the US.

Perhaps the only way things change, the only way perceptions will change despite the corporate propaganda, is if the middle class was made to live through their grandparent's Great Depression. It is a dark statement, but in the US, it appears solutions are only enacted after the disaster has occurred and not before when it would have been far less costly to implement.

[JeffR]

113. "Rugged individualism" is very much a key part of the problem.

We celebrate the "self-made" and denigrate those who don't "make it" at all as slothful, work-averse and degenerate. This mythology is so deeply ingrained that it makes even the most outrageous acts committed by our politicians in the name of "We the People" acceptable to many.

[Kajsa]

115. Didn't Obama mention

this when he defined GW's " ownership society"
to really mean,

'You're on your own!'?

[JeffR]

122. That was one of those moments when I thought

"This guy really gets it." How that will translate into policy once he takes office, I don't know. I'm not as optimistic as I'd like to be on the cusp of the Obama years, but at the same time my pessimism helps nothing. I think too that empowering communities will ultimately go much farther to really tackling poverty and homelessness than a bunch of top-down one-size-fits-all federal programs, but the federal government has to create and enforce minimum national standards for action. The fact that the President Elect is a former community organizer is really encouraging, despite the Palin types and their sneering condescension toward community organizers.

[Kajsa]

137. Yes it is, Jeff.

And I'm trying to remain optimistic, also.

:)

[GoddessOfGuinness]

147. Raygun was responsible for the homelessness of many mentally ill people

My mom was working in a mental hospital when the asshole and his cronies decided to slash funding for mental hospitals. She watched, helpless, as people who had no place to go and little to no hope of finding employment were released from the hospital to fend for themselves.

[Kajsa]

117. You are absolutely right,KCDM.

The number of homeless people, especially families,
jumped when the sub-prime housing market collapsed.

All the in name of greed and profit.

:(

[mod mom]

175. and isn't it amazing how they are quick to cheer the soldier while he is uniform, but

once he is damaged goods from their war for profit they are quick to turn their heads.

I hope you are correct KCDMIII, that they have finally disgraced themselves beyond reprieve.

[quidam56]

26. HANNITY' AMERICA sure isn't MY AMERICA !

Appalachia can't stand anymore of the prosperity http://www.wisecountyissues.com Bush is a toxic terrorist !

[Waiting For Everyman]

29. K&R Thank you, JeffR.

[Greyhound]

30. K&R. FDR recognized the need for an expanded Bill of Rights, why don't we now? n/t

[TahitiNut]

31. K&R

[Kajsa]

34. K & R.

for those who have been forgotten
or ignored.

Many of us don't realize that we are one major illness
or economic calamity away from being homeless ourselves.


Thank you, Jeff.

:hug:

[The Doctor.]

35. This is all by design.

Poverty is engineered through incompetence, greed, ignorance, and an insidious, pernicious, and despotic philosophy of a very few, very powerful pieces of shit.

[bobbolink]

36. kick for the evening crowd

:kick:

[maryf]

38. Fantastic! JeffR, huge K&R

:yourock: :applause: :woohoo: Thanks so much for all you do!!

[malaise]

39. Super post

K & R

[Fireweed247]

40. K&R

:kick:

[skygazer]

41. Poverty is the issue I am most passionate about

And one that is too often ignored or brushed off.

Poor people don't have lobbyists. Compassionate people who understand that poverty is not a choice, is not the result of laziness or a desire to play the system, must speak for them.

Great post and a worthy project.

[bobbolink]

167. "Poor people don't have lobbyists." Nor many advocates!

Thanks, skygazer!

It just isn't sexy..... there's no time because everything else is so much more important... ending the war, Election fraud, others I won't mention... on and on.

Poverty NEVER reaches the those lists of priorities on DU...

:cry:

[Kajsa]

43. There are varied statistics on the percentages

of homeless people and mental illness now, but I do believe they are much lower than previously
thought.Links I checked ranged from 13% to 20%. That's still not a majority by any means.


I realize how many families with children are now homeless due to the housing meltdown.
Most of us who do have homes/apartments could lose them very easily. We are just one
calamity away.

So yes, I hear you Bobbolink!

In all truth and fairness, the vast majority of homeless people are NOT mentally ill.
I know those who are but they are in the minority.
Everyone needs help- with housing and medical help if they need it.

For someone to tell you not to "think about" the stigma of mental illness is arrogance and
worse at its height.

We as a society have stigmatized the homeless unmercifully.

That needs to stop now.

[dcsmart]

44. Poverty will not be solved by either party

it is unregulated capitalism and its allies that disregard the welfare of the people. "People before Profits" is why Democratic Socialism is the only way to solve poverty. Believe it or not, as long as unregulated capitalism is the God of the land, there will be class struggle and only when the working class gain substantial representation in corporate and government affairs will problems start to be resolved. Capitalism is inherently incompatible with human rights. So, keep thinking that the two Corporate parties will solve anything and you will be disappointed. An organized working class (blue/white collar) is where the real power is. It was only through citizen direct action that policy was passed to secure civil and economic rights in this country. And we are still trying.




EDITOR
PROGRESSIVE DEMOCRACY
http://timetofight.tumblr.com/

[varelse]

45. K&R for truth

Poverty is a worldwide problem, but for it to have a foothold here, in one of the richest nations in the world, is unforgivable.

[HughBeaumont]

46. The 1948 UDHR is one of my favorite documents.

I often toss that in someone's gullet who says "Oh, but there's no REAL poverty in America! The poor aren't as poor as THESE people" or "________ isn't a right!".

Shelter, food, clothing and health care aren't "nice to haves", they're RIGHTS! Rights that should be given to everyone who needs them, rights that should be there for people no matter what.

[Tindalos]

51. Unfortunately it's not just the US.

I remember when homeless people were a rarity here. Not anymore.

[Naturyl]

53. Freedom from Want

One of FDR's core freedoms.

It's time to end poverty in America permanently.

[I Have A Dream]

55. When I read things like this, it makes me very sad to be an American.

So many of our citizens are suffering needlessly. It would take so little to really solve this problem if only we didn't allow politicians to manipulate us to control us. They divide us so that we don't realize that when one of us hurts, we all hurt.

Wake up USA! :(

[lonestarnot]

57. If we are loud enough for long enough, someone will hear us!

K & R

[mntleo2]

60. There are as many reasons for poverty as there are poor people

...you can be born into it, sickened into it, unemployed into it, dumped into it, educated (or uneducated) into it, and many other reasons. But over all the REAL reason for poverty is because there is little support and the safety net is almost gone.

Here are a few things we can attend to:

And hunger is also not just about starving. It is about malnutrition ~ obesity can actually be due to the lack of proper resources. Food stamps allow $1.00 per person per meal ~ and that includes everything; main dish, condiments, and beverage. How can you feed a child much less yourself in order to keep the energy to keep going, on $1.00 per meal? You have to fill up on a lot of starch and sugars.

Having a place to live is tantamount! Ending homelessnes would (a) reduce the misery of living on the street (b) reduce crime (c) reduce the spread of disease (d) they have found that addicts and alcoholics actually have the highest sobriety rates when they have stable living conditions (e) children who have no stability in where they grow and/or have experienced homelessness, are more likely to become kids at risk (f) children who are homeless cannot make it to school as they often don't have one due to a lack of address. (g) kids fall behind and become dropouts (h) older children already have few resources or safe places to go and are without adult supervisions. While Mom is away at that McJob as well as scrambling for all those appointnments she needs, are more apt to get into trouble whether pregnant, into drugs, or delinquency or all three ...the list goes on.

If everyone including the rich had access to universal health care this would help to stop the spread of disease as well as give citizens decent care for all. Besides MRSA, there is an incurable TB rampaging on the streets asnd in the barrios. It is just a matter of time before upper income folks become infected as well. This TB should be isolated as it was before they found a cure. Hospitals are not equipped to isolate people, it is expensive and every precaution has to be taken by staff as well as the patient. But it is being ignored at this time because for the time being it has not crossed the class line, there is no cure and it is expensive to take care of a TB victim as they have it for YEARS ~ IF they survive it. It is stoooopid however to take the chance and not attend to this ~ TB makes the MRSA epidemic look like a tempest in teapot and MRSA is also deadly.

Legalization of drugs. It could then be controlled and taxed instead of the black market it is now. While addictions are not affecting the poor population much more than upper income addictions do, the difference is that the poor are criminalized for it, men and women of color are far more apt to be imprisoned for it, and this prison record will then bar them from getting jobs or going to school (you can actually be a murderer and get a degree with school funding but a minor pot arrest will bar you for life from getting an education or a skill now). As a matter of fact upper income addicts come to the poor to get their stuff most of the time. It cause needless crime, murders, robberies. It also ensnares kids because they are less apt to become imprisoned and are used as "gofers" as they are cheap, and the penalties are not as severe. If kids are being used as sellers ~ who do you think they will sell TO? Other kids that is who. Private prisons are one of the largest growing industries. More Americans are imprisoned right now than in China. Not only do prison companies get millions for BEING a prison, they also "employ" for pennies a day the prison population to produce things that their "owners" then market and sell (such as street maintenance where "chain gangs" do the work for nothing, the private company is paid for the work, etc). Thus the "owners" get a double and triple dipping because not only are they not paying taxes, they are also getting virtually free labor that is paid for. There is no incentive to release or for real justice about who is incarcerated because "the more the merrier" and they bill our government BILLIONS for the privilege to be privatized. Oh and guess who is one of the recipients of all this? Dick "I never let a dollar pass me up, especially if it means it will kill or make millions miserable to enrich me" Cheney.

These are hard things to sell I know but this is what I think would out a huge net in poverty.

As the Netherlands have told us before when they legalized pot and allowed kids as young as 16 to freely buy it and therefore saw their pot consumption drop like a stone among youth, "We have succeeded in doing what the U.S. could NEVER do, we have made pot boring for kids ..."

But n-o-o-o! We could never face how poverty is created as the destruction is happening because then we might have to concede things like the "War on Drugs" is a farce, prison connvictions are not just, and housing for drunks and addicts might actually help them instead of punishing them ~ and we fall for it hook, line and sinker by the elite so a few can make millions for themselves, to HELL with the rest of the country, just as long as they get theirs ...

More suggestions anyone?

Cat In Seattle

[JeffR]

114. Great post, Cat.

The complexity of the issue now is a direct result of so many policies implemented by Republicans and Democrats alike, sold through talk radio and the punditocracy. The poor have gone from being scapegoated to being demonized to being criminalized. And I doubt doubt for a moment that there are some who would like to see them euthanized.

[maryf]

145. Pondering here...

You made a pretty good list, but thats what's important, thinking practically on how to battle poverty, then pushing to see that its done!!

[dajoki]

62. Great post JeffR K&R!!

I'm sorry I am not feeling well today so I couldn't be here earlier, maybe tomorrow will be a better day. I can't wait for the next four!!

[Wetzelbill]

67. k and r

[juno jones]

68. Thank you

K&R!

[I Have A Dream]

71. Kicking it back to the top. nt

[acmavm]

72. You just said quite a lot about our poor America and her values.

Many people here, myself included, have referred repeatedly to the lack of the spirit of 'community' in our country. We don't have much of a sense of values anymore either. It's everybody out for himself. The 80s (I believe) were referred to as the 'me' decade. I personally believe that we never left the 'me' decade. It just grew until we got the Wall Street bailout and Bernie Maddoff, the collapse of the economies of several nations, and a vile group of people who stripped this nation of every asset it had and now they're gonna laugh in our faces on their way out the door.

For so many people to be jobless, to be homeless, to be hungry while we keep hearing about multi-million dollar bonuses and severance packages should offend every citizen in this country. If for no other reason than to protect and defend their own selfish hides. Because when the economic collapse hits your community, which it will, there will be nothing left. And it won't be because of the legendary Cadillac driving welfare recipient either. It will be because we are taking care of the wrong end of society. Working families by the thousands are now going to food banks. And many times the food banks have to turn people away. Can you imagine the anguish of parents who work but don't have the resources to pay for shelter, utilities, AND food? Can you just feel the tears of resentment and bitterness and anger because your kids might go to bed hungry again? This is not a nation without food. We can be feeding more people than we do. We can be taking care of more hungry children, more poor old people who can't afford their rent plus meds and then food. We can be extending unemployment benefits to those who need them. Obama talks about putting people to work with programs. Well until that happens, we need to solve this problem like we won this election. We need to band together, get off our asses, and work.

Our elected 'reps' (I always gotta chuckle when I use that term) have to step up to the plate as well. This nation is need of everyone pitching in. Our senators and congresscritters too. Close the tax loopholes. Don't let the repubics jam up all everything that Obama suggests to jumpstart the economy. Kick repubic ass, don't kiss it. Because we can't be a strong country, we can't recover from the last eight years if our reps don't stand up for the American people for once. And we have to force them to do it. We have to get homeless kids off our streets and into safe shelters. We must have a moritorium on foreclosures. We have handed billions of dollars over to the very people that gamed the system and committed economic terrorism against our country, that caused this mess. That's been our policy for many many years. When will we stop and start helping all the people in our country?

[maryf]

79. "we are taking care of the wrong end of society"

Great post, acmavm. When will start helping people in our country? No time like the present? And maybe when we stop looking "up" to the wrong end of society, instead of looking out for our brothers and sisters...

[JeffR]

118. "we have to force them to do it"

Exactly. Will we? Can we? There are a lot of obscenely powerful, deeply entrenched interests out there who despise the idea that the nation could become an actual democracy, who spit on the very idea of the nation because they long ago made the whole planet their playpen and profit just as handsomely by exploiting third-world labor forces as they do by keeping people poor in America.

[acmavm]

151. Will we? I don't know. Read my post down below. It wouldn't take much

JeffR.

edit: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x4754889#4758655

[redqueen]

74. Thank you for this...

K&R

[20score]

75. A kick and a rec!!!

[lin_e65]

76. The new "welfare queen"

If you go back to the Reagan years and Newt's "Contract with America" you will find that the repulsigans were very good in creating a picture of poverty in the US-the Black "welfare queen" who drove a Cadillac to the store and paid for everything with food stamps-and bought booze and ciggies with those stamps as well. They wanted to dismantle FDR's work and that image just did the trick. They're good at putting those pictures into the minds of Americans. But now, just look at our new "welfare queens" who still drive around in Cadillacs, looking for handouts...and getting them---all those CEOs! We need to drive that picture into the minds of Americans. Fat cats with one hand begging while the other is stuffing the money under the mattress. Welfare queens have now become the upper class in this country.0

[I Have A Dream]

78. Amen!

:applause:

[mntleo2]

109. Rich Always WERE Welfare Queens

...I was so mad at what I learned about who pays the most taxes. Guess who? The poor and lower middle class ~ and this is nationwide. My state Washington puts more burden on the poor than for any other state, but they ALL do it ~ while corporations and the rich pay little or nothing and are the ones getting all the "perks" and funding. Check it out here on this pdf: http://www.itepnet.org/wp2000/text.pdf.

When Ray-gun talked about the welfare queen, he knew full well he was actually describing his own people, not the poor. He admitted later quietly that his "welfare queen" story was a lie. Nope. It was the Heritage Foundation who wrote "The Personal Responsibility Act (Welfare DEformed), in particular it was Robert Rector. He was the entitled rich white man who thought raising children should be considered "doing nothing."

Rector and his ilk definitely possess an anti-feminist attitude. By lowering the work of women who built this country from their sweat and dedication, who contributed to countless communities and still do, who are the backbone of our society, well these women are nothing more than chicken feed, he used them to make his rich friends "more important." In other words to denigrate the (mostly unpaid) work that women do in almost all cultures around the world, including here in America, women who have done this work since time immemorial, these women should be despised and denigrated as wingnut men like Rector always want to do. Oh, but he thinks that we should buy that working for some corporation for little or nothing while ignoring our kids and our future so we can make the CEO rich, oh now THAT is WAY "more important!" We should REALLY consider having a family as "recreation" and a burden on our society, when in fact these kids are our future, this was Rector and his cohort's plan. All so he and his buddies could make money off our backs.

And Raygun as well as Clinton and his "Contract for America buddies" knew (and know) it. They know who pays their way ~ it is *not* their "CEO friends" but US, the little guy, the ones who are doing all the work as well as paying all the money, and worse, we actually believe we are the ones who are "not as important." Excuse ME??????

AARRGGHH!


Cat In Seattle

[JeffR]

119. Well said!

:thumbsup:

[Number23]

77. Very nice thread, great idea and great research

Happy to rec

Looking forward to the essays

[JeffR]

80. Thanks, all, for your comments, many of them brilliant.

Hope to have some time tomorrow to comment specifically on some of them.

Happy New Year, everyone.

[maryf]

82. Brilliant writing is inspirational Jeff!

Thanks for such a great job!!:pals:

[undeterred]

81. K and R!

:kick:

[saltpoint]

83. This is a splendid post.

And sadly necessary.

And strongly recommended.

[Odin2005]

84. A living wage should be a basic right.

And everyone should have a right to have a home and to have healthcare. Also, like in Sweden, moms with newborns should have several months of paid maternity leave and subsidized daycare.

[dajoki]

160. And those who are disabled...

or cannot work also should have those same rights. I'm afraid that the safety net has been torn to shreds and there are MANY who fall through the cracks and are forgotten.

[Raksha]

85. K & R

[Sparkly]

86. "Motherhood and Childhood" -- I was gonna skim here until I saw that...

THAT is key, I believe.

[Cetacea]

87. K&R

[Divine Discontent]

92. K&R w/o comment

[tclambert]

93. How do you measure when declaring one country "the richest nation in the world?"

It is just GDP? Or having the richest rich person? Or having the highest per capita income? Or having the least poor people?

Really, shouldn't the richest nation on Earth have no poor people?

The problem is shallow thinkers who insist pure capitalism is the best system. For under pure capitalism, the weak cannot win the competition for resources, and they starve or freeze to death. And it only takes a short span of "losing" to sink into lethal deprivation. Without some additional agenda, like ethics, morals, Christian charity, or some minimal sense of decency, pure capitalism makes poverty a death penalty offense.

[Hannah Bell]

94. besides which, where there's "wealth," there's always poverty.

once past the items needed for survival, the contrast between the haves & have-nots is how "wealth" is determined.

no rich people without poor people to control & compare themselves to - & work for them.

[JNelson6563]

95. K&R

The need is very urgent and great. :patriot:

Julie

[gollygee]

96. K&R

[G_j]

98. kick

[a la izquierda]

99. K & R for the morning crew.

[dajoki]

100. Another thing...

about being poor is that we are the only group remaining that its OK to discriminate against, I have found this out personally. I saw it from both sides and you are treared completely differently when you are poor.

[maryf]

140. Absolutely!

and we have to stop it, human beings should all be treated equally under the law for all rights and services, and it has to start here with us...:hug:

[Orwellian_Ghost]

101. K&R

[L0oniX]

103. K & R

...now I must go a help feed the homeless like I always do on Saturday.

[acmavm]

105. Darn, I just went and looked to see which threads are catching the most

attention and compared to some, this one is practically being ignored. We have how many posters here on DU? And this one has gotten only 1990 looks? I sincerely hope that is because it's still pretty early.

Remember that much touted DU Activist Corps? What happened to that? Poverty in America would be the PERFECT cause for DU to take up during the month of January. Giving is just so damn easy. When sending flowers to a DU icon, this place is great. Collecting donations for Obama? Fantastic! Now maybe we dig in and try to help ease the hardship of those who are hungry, homeless, sick, mentally ill. I'm not suggesting that DU take it upon themselves to collect and disperse money, I'm suggesting that we look around our city, our state, and post information as to where money is desperately needed and how we can do our part to help others, at least while some of us can. (My hours have been cut to 48 for the past 2 weeks. Who knows what's next.)

People, open your phone books! Look up the telephone number to your local food bank. Patronize or donate to Goodwill, write a check to Disable Vets, check the square on your heat/gas/water/electric bills where it says that you'd like to give a dollar (or two or five or ten) to the fund that helps cover heat/gas/water/electric bills for those who need help, who daily have to decide between heat/gas/water/electricity or food or medicine. And I know that some people have gripes against the Salvation Army but I have to say that there were Christmases in my house when we were little where the only gifts we got were from the Salvation Army. My wealthier relatives didn't give a rat's ass if we had a meal or a present at Christmas, but the Salvation Army did. And I will feel grateful to them for the rest of my life for their acts of kindness to families like mine.

Give to Save the Children. Give to St. Jude's Hospital for Children. Get the neighborhood kids together, organize a food drive for them. Who could tell a kid no if he's collecting for other hungry kids? And it will teach them a good lesson.

DO NOT GIVE TO THOSE WHO MAKE A LIVING FIGURING OUT FOR OTHERS HOW TO GIVE THEIR MONEY TO CHARITY! Avoid organizations like United Way. That is a scam. Figure out where to give you money yourself. Don't give it to people who've created an industry that consists of deciding for people where their charitable contributions should go. Give the money DIRECTLY!

Look what this country can do when it wants to. The first black President of the United States (happily I can capitalize the word 'President' again) is about to take office. He got their because we all pitched in and did our part. IT'S TIME TO GET OFF OUR ASSES AND GET BACK TO WORK!

[Desertrose]

106. They've criminalized homelessness as an excuse to ignore it.

Whatever happened to HELPING someone who may not have been as financially fortunate as you??

To brush someone aside and say "Well, they CHOOSE to be homeless" or in poverty has got to be the cruelest stupidest thing anyone can do.

Americans who can actually help make a difference and yet do nothing should be ashamed .....we can ALL do better for our fellow human beings.


THERE IS NO EXCUSE FOR ANYONE TO BE HOMELESS FOR WHATEVER REASON.


Thanks so much for this article. K&R

[maryf]

150. THERE IS NO EXCUSE FOR ANYONE TO BE HOMELESS FOR WHATEVER REASON.

You said, it should be our mantra, NO excuse, none whatsoever...

[hfojvt]

116. I don't like the upward defining of poverty

The official poverty line has some problems, but arbitrarily doubling it and saying that poverty is much larger is not valid either. My income is 120% of the poverty line, depending on how you define my income. My final paycheck for last year has gross earnings (15889.63) and taxable earnings (11968.74) and FICA earnings (12604.31). Should the 1599.84 that went to my retirement and FICA be considered income? I cannot spend it on groceries, rent, or utility bills. The same is true, of course, of the 3117.76 that I spent on health insurance and the 167.56 that I spent on dental insurance. I cannot spend that money on groceries though, because I already spent it on health insurance.

I also find it disgusting though, when state and local governments provide benefits to people making more income than me, and they do so in the name of helping the poor. For example, people making up to $25,800 get a sales tax refund, but only if they are over 55 or have children (it's a whole $36 so not that big a deal, but the same is true of the Homestead credit, which is up to $600).

[maryf]

152. The amounts you mention

Are basically nominal, and really have so little effect on income as to be ridiculous. The problem comes in the separation of groups of impoverished, such as you vs. those with children, or over 55. This causes a division among the very people who should most be joining forces. The old divide and conquer. Instead of being resentful of the people getting the "benefit" (breaks down to 53 dollars a month??), we need to start figuring out how to provide all with living conditions/wages all humans deserve regardless their situation.

[ulysses]

120. ah, I'm in time to rec.

Good. :kick:

[dana_b]

125. great post

:kick:

[Time for change]

127. It is a terrible shame that our national news media gives this so little attention.

Thank you for shining light on it.

[JeffR]

132. Kicking again.

:kick:

[CC]

133. Kicking

and sending off the link to some that could be educated. Not that it will do much good for the dense ones but some are learning. Thanks.

[Beaverhausen]

135. Kick for an important topic

[maryf]

138. Kick for another evening...

[smokey nj]

139. Kick!

[southernyankeebelle]

141. How sad

Well people in this country don't give a damn. The church started worrying more abortion issues and gay marriage that they forgot what they are really there to do. The government in the last 8 yrs Bush has been in office seems to give the money to the churches to supposely help the poor. All I can say is what happened to government building affordable housing? These religious organizations only talk. These megachurchs go out and buy expense planes, cars, and homes for these ministers. Where does the money go. I will never give to any church any longer. If I find out people need help I will give a contribution to them. That way I know exactly where my money is going. People don't wait your time and money giving to the church. Look at your church and your preacher. Ask to see the church budget sheets. See for yourself where the money is going. The republicans don't give a damn about the poor. They really don't. I am tired of hearing from more than one republican that these people chose to be this way. Not the true. The democratics are good at talking but they to have let the people down. I hope Obama will finally help the working poor. The working poor want help not a hand out. They are being left behind in this country. We need to start caring for them.

[maryf]

144. You are right but not just the working poor...

but many of the poor aren't working, not due to a lack of willingness but to life...all people regardless deserve a decent home and enough food to not be hungry...it should be guaranteed...

[blindpig]

142. Too late to recommend but a late kick n/t

[JeffR]

143. Thanks!

:)

[JeffR]

146. Kick!

:kick:

[ulysses]

148. back up.

:kick:

[saltpoint]

149. A kick on a Sunday morning.

[JeffR]

153. Kick!

:kick:

[dajoki]

154. kick

[maryf]

155. Kick

Too much important stuff here to be missed by anyone...

[Beaverhausen]

156. kick

[ulysses]

157. it's Sunday evening!

:kick:

[ulysses]

158. kick, goddamnit!

:kick:

[bobbolink]

169. You tell 'em ulysses!

HEY! Where's your January banner??

:hi:

[ulysses]

180. can't fit it in.

The current sig image has to stay. I'm multi-caused. :)

[OneGrassRoot]

159. Monday morning kick. :) n/t

[Beaverhausen]

161. monday afternoon kick

[maryf]

162. Monday Evening Kick nt

[Cetacea]

164. Poverty? As long as the gays can't can't married we're cool.

Besides, poor people are lazy.


:puke:

[Cetacea]

165. "Bleeding-heart liberals". Another one we can thank Reagan for.

And he openly ridiculed the homeless and from his bully pulpit made it somewhat fashionable to ridicule the poor and homeless. The bastard.

[bobbolink]

168. You're right, of course, but look how many "progressives" actually repeat the Raygun stuff.

:cry:

[Cetacea]

171. Sad but disheartening true.

The damage he created runs long and deep. So many have no idea how much better nearly everything was before the Reagan Devolution.

[bobbolink]

166. Peace......Or Poverty?

"Peace can only last where human rights are respected, where people are fed, and where individuals and nations are free."
- Dalai Lama

[maryf]

170. maybe cliche, but true

Without justice there can be no peace, without peace there can be no future

Justice, whereby all are treated with human decency (housing, food, healthcare) and dignity has to be the first order of business...

[maryf]

172. Hey Jeff, won't there be a Poverty Month Essay, Friday??

Any thing on that? :)

[saltpoint]

173. a kick on a Thursday evening.

[saltpoint]

174. As to the least ot these, then as to me. Etc.

[ulysses]

177. you're making Prosperity Jesus cry.

:hi:

[saltpoint]

182. LOL! 'Prosperity Jesus" !!

ulysses, you are killing me here.

[ulysses]

184. he's the savior of suburbia.

Throw in a catchy beat and we have a hit on our hands!

[redqueen]

178. Couldn't find Hannah Bell's thread

so I'm kicking this one instead.

[bobbolink]

179. .....

:hi: Thanks!

[ulysses]

181. Bobbie, can you PM when that thread is posted?

[redqueen]

186. Here's a link...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=4800489

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

183. When is poverty going to be linked with shame?

Not shame for those who are forced to live in poverty by this craven and brutal economic "system"(I put system in quotes because the only thing that seems to be systematic is forcing more and more people into poverty...), but the shame of our leaders, our elected officials, our business moguls. our politicians, our economists...all those who can work and make a difference to end this grinding cycle of poverty, this systemic non-reward for hard work, this destruction of jobs, this stripping of basic human dignity.

This thing, this monster we have sexually fetishized, this societal woodchipper we call "capitalism" is a failure for the majority of citizens of this nation, just some more than others. What will it take to recognize that simple fact and move onward from there?

Or are we, as I contend, truly a thick and dull people, a civilization of mouth-breathers, a society of morons who cannot and will not recognize that which is staring them in the face? You had more community and societal cohesiveness in medieval times.

[saltpoint]

185. Progressives have choices. They can take their shoes off and toss them

at Bush or they can keep them on to kick top-drawer threads like this one.

[bobbolink]

187. How very well said! We show our morality with our choices!

:applause:

[saltpoint]

188. We are spirits in the material world, as the

song goes.

Small 's' on 'spirits'; big K on Kick.

[bobbolink]

189. but treated as commodities in this society.

"Poor folk are people, too!"

That oughtta be a song...

[saltpoint]

190. This is the kind of DU post I hope DUers will

link & send to everybody they know who has an email account.

Kick.