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Hi George, I'd like to share some of my own thoughts about fighting poverty. It's an issue that I've put a lot of my professional, academic and personal time toward studying and exploring. I agree wholeheartedly with Amy Sherman that "throwing money" at the problem isn't the answer -- that a more holistic approach is badly needed. Faith-based organizations, which minister to the soul as well as the body, are an invaluable piece of the antipoverty puzzle. But poverty, at its heart, is not so much a crisis of the spirit or a deficiency of morals, but a product of economic and social forces that work to keep the poor poor. You cannot, for example, talk about poverty in America without talking about racism in America. You cannot talk about poverty in America without talking about sexism in America. There's a distinct reason why white males still sit proudly and intransigently atop the socio-economic pyramid in our country. This did not happen by accident. The greatest force working to keep poor people poor in our country these last few decades has NOT been, as Paul Harris and George Allen would have us believe, the so-called "welfare state" that right-wingers get into such a frenzy about. It is one thing to say that the War on Poverty and its attendant social welfare programs have failed to lift enough people out of poverty (though to their credit, government programs HAVE dramatically reduced elderly poverty and child hunger in this country). It is altogether another thing to say that the War on Poverty is responsible for CREATING poverty in America. I get alternately angry and amused when I hear the Republicans say that the best thing we can do to help those poor folks is to dismantle those pesky antipoverty programs and get government out of their way. As if there was no poverty in America before LBJ's meddling bureaucrats came up with plans to subsidize idleness & wanton procreation with monthly welfare checks. The poor are such easy targets for mindless political rhetoric. When it comes down to it, the poverty problem is in large part a jobs problem and a disinvestment problem. This is especially true in our urban areas. The massive flight of jobs (particularly manufacturing jobs) and human & financial capital from our cities to the suburbs (& to foreign markets) over the last five decades has left behind "vast gray wastelands" (in the words of RFK) where good jobs are scarce, families have been decimated by the absence of gainfully-employed fathers and husbands (read William Julius Wilson), and urban governments are seriously strapped for revenues and resources to deal with the attendant social problems that this "white flight" has created. Only by reversing the suburbanization of America and encouraging re-investment in our cities, thereby re-connecting the social and economic fabric of our communities, can we begin to create viable, long-term solutions to the poverty problem. Good jobs are the key. And if the private sector can't be induced to step in (as through Clinton's "New Markets" Initiative), the government needs to do so -- even if that means reviving some of the great public works programs of ages past. Having said all of that, I fully recognize that poverty is a multi-headed beast and there is no one way to slay this beast. Whether it's encouraging more churches to provide relational ministry to the poor, or rebuilding dilapidated housing, or lobbying for a Living Wage, or strengthening our schools, or promoting more community-based economic development, or what have you, there's lots we can do and lots to be done. Unfortunately, though, the plight of the poor is far too often overlooked, particularly in this age of SUVs and Stock Options and IPOs and double-latte frappucinos. I appreciate your bringing this important topic up for discussion. Dave Norris (electronic mail, March 30, 2000).
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