America Can't Be Saved From the Top

Poverty is spreading in America.

One in five children are being raised in poverty. Millions of Americans depend on food stamps. Some 25 million are in need of full-time work. Veterans are coming home from foreign battlegrounds to an economic desert -- and many of America's homeless are veterans.

Yet the poor are virtually invisible in our political debate. Democrats talk about saving the middle class, while Republicans fret about protecting the "job creators." In the Republican presidential debate last week, neither reporters nor candidates mentioned the words "poor" or "poverty."

Not only is the very word "poor" despised, but the broader political order ignores the desperate, ominous message these coal-mine canaries are sending us.

Denial won't work. This country is like a mighty ship that is taking on water. Some on board are so eager to get rid of the captain that they are prepared to let the whole thing sink. Speaking of his tea party congressional members in the debt ceiling debacle, House Speaker John Boehner said many thought that "a little chaos" might help them get their way. Well, they got the chaos, and now the ship of state is struggling in far rougher waters.

Most, however, seem focused on protecting those in posh cabins, on the upper decks. They are oblivious to water flooding in from the bottom. More and more of those in the lower decks are struggling just to keep their head above water. It goes without saying that although the poor might drown first, even those on the upper decks won't fare well when the whole ship goes down.

The wealthiest Americans know this isn't right. In The New York Times on Monday, multibillionaire Warren Buffett, one of America's richest men, calls for us to "stop coddling" the super-rich. "While the poor and middle class fight for us in Afghanistan, and while most Americans struggle to make ends meet, we mega-rich continue to get our extraordinary tax breaks," Buffett writes. He notes that because he makes most of his money from returns on investing, as opposed to salary or wages on work, he pays a lower effective tax rate than many others in his office. He calls for special tax hikes on millionaires and billionaires -- noting that all of them will continue to invest and to make money.

On the political trail, we hear a lot of rhetoric designed to rationalize the abandonment of the poor. Repeated tax cuts largely for the rich, two unfunded wars, and the financial wilding on Wall Street blew up our economy. Yet we're told we must balance our budget by cutting spending, particularly on programs that poor and working people rely on: Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. "Shared sacrifice" is said to be lowering rates even further on the top end and corporations, while reducing school lunch programs, slashing funding to poor schools, and cutting affordable housing.

Most remarkable is that those who are the most callous about the poor make the loudest claims about their religious faith. They ignore the story of Jesus' life. Born in a manger, he fled to Egypt as an immigrant, then returned to his lands as a carpenter. He announced his mission as "Good news for the poor," vowing service to help heal the brokenhearted and feed the poor. At the same time, Jesus tossed the moneylenders from the temple and suggesting that the callous rich had as much of a chance of getting into heaven as a camel of passing through the eye of a needle.

It takes leadership and citizen movement to summon Americans to real shared sacrifice. When Dr. King's life was cut short, he was organizing a Poor People's Campaign to bring the poor to Washington to demand jobs and justice. The civil rights movement helped convince Lyndon Johnson that the time had come to end American segregation and to launch a war on poverty.

America can't be saved from the top down. The ship is leaking from the bottom. The debates on the campaign trail and in Washington must not continue to focus on topside staterooms while ignoring the damage below.

Remember our nation's character and our moral imperative are linked to how we treat the least of these. Somewhere I read, "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me. I lift my lamp beside the golden door."

That invitation is a high moral ground. That invitation is the key to our greatness. It must never be abandoned.

 

Follow Rev. Jesse Jackson on Twitter: www.twitter.com/revjjackson

Comments

[TommyMcCarthy]

09:27 PM on 08/21/2011

I call on Rev. Jackson to add his considerable voice to ours to call DIRECTLY on the President for an end to the vacillation, timidity and this endless pre-emptive surrender.

Many on the right...and a few on the left (not me)....have opined that...should he end up serving one term...history will relegate Obama's Presidency to a status similar to that of President Carter's.

Despite the obvious parallels (one-term Democratic President in time of economic distress).......
I don't think President Obama (per his performance to date)....can expect the verdict of history to afford him anything NEAR as good as comparison to President Carter.

In the now 30+ years since the Carter administration...I've only heard a handful of people suggest that Carter didn't even really TRY very hard to adress the economic concerns of working people (or that he wasn't interested) ...and fewer still suggest that he tended to CAPITULATE and adopt the Republican postion before even articulating his own.............
Further.......

In the 30 years since the newly ascendant "Christian right" helped to depose the most devout Christian ever elected President...in order to replce him with an ACTOR....
I've never heard ANYONE suggest that President Carter "never really meant what he said" either as a candidate or as President.

It is not too late for leaders like Rev. Jackson to their voices to the many others now calling for the President to change course
tm

[rogiec123]

10:02 PM on 08/25/2011

Carter and Obama are very close in comparison since they are both failures as Presidents. The only thing Carter ever did about economic stress was to stand behind his podium, and say the American people had to tighten their belts and then go on to describe his next tax raise further debilitating people's opportunity to live comfortably. Businesses closed, jobs disappeared, inflation rose ten fold, and then came Reagan. Within 8 years unemployment dropped from 10% to 4%, businesses began to re-open creating new jobs, the rate of inflation dropped from double digits to 3%. All because he cut taxes and shrunk the size of government to a controlable level. As far as Obama is concerned, nothing he has done so far has so much as dented any of our problems, if anything he's made them worse. You cannot solve these problems by increasing the size of government. Creating new money wasting panels and super congresses will only further our financial difficulties by adding to the cost of government Carter and Obama are the worst leaders this country, possibly ever had.

[TommyMcCarthy]

02:51 AM on 08/26/2011

rogiec123.......I could take issue with a "fact" or two regarding the Carter/Reagan era...but won't....because you're generally "in the park"....except for your WILDLY innaccurate "shrunk the size of government."

Given that (pretty substantial) concession........I'm interested in your opinion... with one caveat:

If you imagine that statistics can change my (generally positive) opinion of President Carter.......or my (to date...pretty LOW) opinion of President Obama.....you are mistaken. So, let's not waste time with that.

I suggest above that there is still time for Obama to change course and take action to improve the economy.

Simply put: do you agree...at least in theory?.....RSVP

In any event.....thank you for your response.

Hopefully..to be continued
tm

[TommyMcCarthy]

03:02 AM on 08/26/2011

PS I'm aware that I can be oblique in print, so....

In case you've missed the meaning of my original post...let me make it plain:

Should Obama continue on his present course....it is my opinion that he cannot aspire to a "judgement of history" as HIGH....or as POSITIVE as that of President Carter.

Plainly, you and I differ in our level of admiration for President Carter.....

But I suspect that even YOU would agree (provided you remember Carter's Presidency 1st hand)........that Obama can build THOUSANDS of houses for the poor....and never erase the stain of having misrepresented himself so dramatically to those who elected him.

tm

[globeeii]

06:14 PM on 08/21/2011

Thank you Rev. Jackson for all the work you've done and going to do. You have been a beckon of light during our struggle.. We do need more help for the poor and the middle class. Unfortunately,if the infrastructure is not repaired, the middle class will fall and become the poor.More attention needs to be paid to the jobs that President Obama has tried to create ... what happened? I was ecstatic to hear that the Ford company was going to supply NYC with new taxis and open a manufacturing company in NY state which would supply more jobs. That fell through and Nissan got the contract to supply NYC with new taxis. What happened here? In order for us to recover from this economic slump, the top must strengthen the middle (infrastructure), the middle, (infrastructure) must strengthen the lower echelon, with programs and opportunities to better their situation. Until the infrastructure is repaired the bottom will continue to leak. God bless America, America bless God!

[rogiec123]

02:04 PM on 08/21/2011

This country has to be saved from the top. If we keep wasting money on government that doesn't work, there will be no money for the people to invest. And, never ever ask a die hard liberal [ Jesse Jackson] to back a Republican idea that was born 30 years ago. Even if it worked, and it did, he wouldn't back it because it wasn't his or his parties idea. To back it is political taboo!

[Edwin Lewis Jones]

10:08 AM on 08/21/2011

There are quieter, larger problems that the president is ignoring. They are constitutional, civil and human rights violations. Numerous times over the last 2 years, I have petitioned the president by certified mail, email and telephone calls seeking an investigation. The Whitehouse has not even responded. That suggests that this administration is afraid to embrace the needs of it's core supporters. I'm not asking for ANY special favors, only the same rights that whites have. Team Obama is more interested in NOT losing the white votes in the middle that he is ignoring his bread and butter voters on the left. At any rate, not waiting for a presaidential response, I put 2 videos on Youtube titled " Supreme Court Fraud" and " Obama Conspiracy Letters" hoping for some response.

[David Kahl]

02:04 PM on 08/20/2011

Reverend Jackson, you said enough in the title. History is rife with examples of top-down policy, wreaking desperation upon the masses, while the elite, for a while, sit complacent in their perceived immunity from the destruction they have wrought. During the Middle Ages, certain cost-benefit was the rationale for forcing serfs off feudal landholdings and the result was the Plague. Even while its devastating effect was wiping out the populace, the lords were certain it would not cross the castle gates. What was the French Revolution about and what triggered it? Same thinking, same perceptual and policy roots. History, as noted, is replete with example. Its progress, however, is not defined by "great" men; it is common men rising to great occasion. My father taught me that.

[robjh1]

10:33 AM on 08/20/2011

I wonder if Rev. Jesse Jackson has read the book "At the Dark End of the Street," If not he should. The book will definitely open his eyes to self determination and how the community rallied around different citizens to keep them going. More social programs is just half of the help, the rest must be by the community and those that have in the community.

[John Prewett]

11:44 PM on 08/19/2011

welfare + public housing = criminal factory and magnet for parasites from all over the world.

[tc71087]

10:22 PM on 08/19/2011

Amen Reverend Jackson. I couldn't have said it better myself.

[Captain Kyrie Val Kyrie]

07:53 PM on 08/19/2011

They got their way in the little chaos they created on September 11/2001; what a great victory that must be for them.

[Glenn Snead]

04:36 PM on 08/19/2011

The problem Jesse is two fold. One: Yes we have lowered taxes on the wealthy, but Obama has ALSO lowered taxes on the middle class. In fact, most get their entire federal payroll taxes back every April 15th making the collection of payroll taxes an unofficial Federal Savings Program.
Two: We have also given trillions to the job creators few of whom are increasing employment. The winners selected by your party and the GOP haven't delivered. Then again, no one asked them. We just forked over the cash.

But that's not the crux of the problem. We The People aren't spending, and that drives 70% of our domestic economy. Not Detroit, not Wall Street, not defense, not healthcare. Citizens who are over leveraged and sitting on a pile of high interest credit card debt, student loans, and mortgages we could have used the 4T bailout and stimulus packages to eliminate. But that's not what FDR did so that isn't what we're doing now.

So when will you get off the bench and start becoming prescriptive?

[bunker1969]

03:13 PM on 08/19/2011

The poor in the inner cities are 100% in the Dem's domain. Dem's blame the 2 yr old Tea Party or the 6 months old Rep House for the poverty in the inner cities. And most super rich are Dem's too.

[DrHopeful]

02:25 PM on 08/19/2011

The strength of a society should be measured not by the abilities and achievements of those on the top but by the abilities and achievements of those on the bottom. A sociologist--I forget his name--tells the story of a random group of unemployed dropped in the boondocks during the Great Depression with some materials and told to build a road--no leaders or instructions. They chose their own leaders, found out what skills were available, and built the road. When the poor are able to form their own society and get work done, the nation is not at risk, since anyone can reconstitute it if it goes bust.

[Alicia MalkemusWise]

01:56 PM on 08/19/2011

Jesse, denial of the poor in this country is a HUMAN RIGHTS violation. I have worked with a lot children in the inter-cities. It is difficult to find the LIGHT in children's eyes when they are born into poverty.

CHILDREN DO NOT ASK TO BE BORN! We are all children of God. Our white society is still in denial about inter-city life and the discrimination of education in their areas. This is done by zip codes. The poor areas of town get less allocated federal funding for education than a wealthier area of town.

I truly believe that if more accountability of funding to poor areas is better monitored our children may have a chance. By the way, I am also seeing more white families living in their cars with their children because their parents have lost their jobs,they have lost their houses and their unemployment has run out. They have no other choice but to apply for welfare, food stamps and food bank charities.."BEING POOR IS NOT A CRIME, IT IS A SOCIETY PROBLEM..

[Alicia MalkemusWise]

01:18 PM on 08/19/2011

Jesse, I have attached a copy of an article that I wrote yesterday about how to resolve the problems that we are facing in our country at this moment. The comment was also emailed to President Obama.
"Corporate Globalization" was created in the mid-90's. We are now seeing the the results of "Corporate Greed". To use austerity measures would only make things worse for the middle-class.
Middle Class Americans are; "FRUSTRATED AND ANGRY" because major U.S. corporations control everything in this country including; "Our Government".

What American's want are "RESOLUTIONS" to the problems that "We The People" are facing. NOT more TALK. If, our government would impose and retroactively collect a 35% tax reform on major U.S. corporations, their shell corporations and their off-shore accounts. Our government should use the 25% of the budget for Defense and use it for: Education and Renewable Energy Projects. Last year the government spent a mere 2.8% of the budget on education. They could also relinquish half of the 23% of government pensions and spend that on Universal Health Care for all Americans. How is that for a RESOLUTION?

"We The People" work hard and pay our taxes and we DESERVE BETTER. When and only then our GOVERNMENT collects the taxes due from the corporations will we have the money to start rebuilding our infrastructure and create jobs for the American people.

[Genders]

12:43 PM on 08/19/2011

Get more specific.

Vote for the CPC Progressive caucus Kucinch folks in the primaries and the dems in the general.
http://cpc.grijalva.house.gov/
Not theObama Clinton Rahm Blue dog new dem DLC corporatist anti-populist folks:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Leadership_Council

The Obama/Clinton/Rahm/Lieberman DLC are Reaganomics loving trickle down, privatize, corpaatism sellouts.

[TommyMcCarthy]

10:49 PM on 08/21/2011

Genders,...

I too think think we could all do a lot worse than voting the straight CPC ticket for Congressional

Without offense.....I would suggest that Obama/Clinton/Rahm/Lieberman paints pretty disparate entities with a very broad brush.

I'd call that not only an "apples and oranges" comparison..........but an "apples, bowling balls,hand grenades, and little shriveled up prunes" comparison...in no particular order
tm