We Can End Poverty in the Republic

Creating, developing, and establishing a plan to end poverty means it will cost money, but it is worth every penny that will be spent on eradicating a pestilence that continues to envelop the nation. Let’s stop talking about how great the Republic is and address the issues that are eroding the nation such as poverty.

According to the Census Bureau, statistics establish two grades of food insecurity. Very low food security: In these food-insecure households, normal eating patterns of one or more household members were disrupted and food intake was reduced at times during the year because they had insufficient money or other resources for food. 6.7 million US households (5.7% of all US households) had very low food security at some time during 2008, a 39% increase from 2007 (4.1% of US households). This was the largest increase ever recorded since nationally representative food security surveys were initiated in 1995, as well as the largest year-to-year percentage increase.

The defining characteristic of very low food security is that, at times during the year, the food intake of household members is reduced and their normal eating patterns are disrupted because the household lacks money and other resources for food. On average, households with very low food security at some time during the year experienced it in 7 or 8 months during the year and in 1 to 7 days in each of those months. In 2010, 97% of those classified as having “low food security” reported that an adult had cut the size of meals or skipped meals because there was not enough money for food and 27% reported that an adult did not eat for a whole day because there was not enough money for food

So, who represents the food “insecure?”

• Households with incomes below the poverty line (19.3%)
• Families with children, headed by single women (13.3%)
• Black households (10.1%)
• Hispanic households (8.8%)
• Households in principal cities of metropolitan areas (6.6%)

• In 2009, 43.6 million people were poor, up from 39.8 million in 2008 and 37.3 million in 2007. The nation’s official poverty rate in 2009 was 14.3%, up from 13.2% in 2008--the second statistically significant annual increase in the poverty rate since 2004.

• Between 2008 and 2009, the poverty rate increased for children under the age of 18 from 19.0 percent to 20.7 percent. Thus, 1 in 5 children in the United States live in poverty. Almost half of these children or 9.3% live in “extreme” poverty.

• 16 million low-income households either paid more for rent and utilities than the federal government said is affordable or lived in overcrowded or substandard housing.
There are three main causes of poverty in the Republic:

1. Poverty in the world.
2. The operation of the political and economic system in America which has tended to keep families impoverished.
3. The culture of inequality.

• Poverty in the world: There are a lot of poor people in the world. There are more than 2,000,000,000 people that are poor, and the same amount hungry. As can be imagined, people do not want to be hungry and desperately poor.

• The operation of the US economic and political system: The operation of the US economic and political system has led to certain ethnicities being relatively disenfranchised.

First, in a free enterprise economy, there is competition for jobs, with jobs going to the most qualified. On the other hand, there is almost always a significant amount of unemployment, so that not everyone will get a job, with the major unemployment falling on the least qualified. In the African American community alone is currently at 16%. It might be tempting to indentify them as ‘unemployable’ but what is in fact happening is that the private enterprise system is not generating enough jobs to employ everyone. Second, the top echelon of business has the power to allocate the profits of the enterprise, and certainly they have allocated these profits to themselves in recent years. In essence, the current operation of the Republic’s political system, which should address the major problems of its citizens, is to a great extent not focused on fundamental concerns of poor people.

There are various aspects to the culture of poverty. For example, people are typically segregated by income and often race where jobs are low paid and scarce. This can lead to crime as a way of obtaining income, and also to unemployed men not willing to marry, which can play a significant role in developing a cultural model of single parent families.

The lack of income creates problems, including poor housing, lack of food, health problems and the inability to address needs of one’s children. As a result of this situation, people living in poverty can themselves have patterns of behavior, such as alcoholism or a ‘life of crime’ that are harmful to them and the community.

There are ways that “we, the people” can end poverty in the public:

Politicians:

• Revisit and implement parts of President Johnson’s War on Poverty/Great Society.

• Increase the minimum wage, which currently is estimated to be a wage that keeps people and families well below the poverty line.

• Provide more resources, guidance and opportunities for the poor.

Church, Masjid, Synagogue/Community:

• Empower the poor through education, opportunities for growth, social networks, information, and inclusion in society.

• Empower the poor to challenge the political process and social structures which in fact, keep them poor, such as the current welfare system which encourages welfare dependency instead of economic independence.

School Administrations:

• Provide guaranteed meals in public, private, and parochial schools

In summary, this is not a red state or blue state problem--this is an “American crisis” that’s affecting all of us. So, we can continue to waste time on debating who is or isn’t a citizen and why the wealthy should continue to receive tax breaks after more than two decades, or we can turn our attention to families living next door that are without one of the basic necessities for survival--food. Once and for all-time, let us eradicate poverty in the Republic.



“Progressives will bring balance to the Republic”
Anthony P. Johnson, Candidate for State Representative, 2012