A new report from "Capital Kids" reveals that the childhood poverty rate is worse in Washington, D.C., than in Mexico. We anticipate that the official poverty numbers being released this Wednesday will confirm that across the nation, children are paying the price for our political indifference to poverty in America. Demographers tell us that child poverty will almost certainly increase from its 22% level in 2010. As if 22% isn't already tragic enough.
This nasty debate, Medicare (Obama) vs. Vouchercare (Romney), is really a referendum on the nation's senior population. The stakes for poor senior citizens couldn't be higher.
I'm not at all naïve about the politics being played here, but I have never quite understood how a nation of advanced citizenship can so easily render invisible the weak and the vulnerable? In other words, "we got your back," unless you're too young to vote or too old to matter.
I get asked all the time when discussing the issue of poverty, why it is that the poor don't matter? We all know why: because the poor aren't "likely voters" and the poor aren't big campaign donors. It's really that simple. And that's sickening.
The fact-checkers had to work overtime at the recent political conventions to keep up with all the half-truths, distortions and outright lies being sold daily. There was one big lie we heard repeatedly from the stage at both conventions: that America is a magical place where anything is possible. Tell that to the children of America who are forced to surrender their life's choices before they ever know their life's chances. Tell that to seniors who might have believed that decades ago, but now face the reality of having to choose between medicine or food.
When children or seniors are continuously neglected or abused, somebody eventually shows up to arrest the perpetrators and take the victims away to a safe place. We continue to politically, economically, socially and culturally neglect children and seniors, but who arrests us? Who ushers the children and the aged to a safe place? No one. It's business as usual in America. If you're young, good luck. If you're old, good night.
So we just foreclose on our future and discard our past? Is that how we do it in America? U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!
Not so fast. True democracy focuses on the public interest; it defends the common good and protects its citizens -- especially the weak and the vulnerable. No democracy can survive without the powerful notions of compassion and public service.
"Compassion constitutes a radical form of criticism, for it announces that the hurt is to be taken seriously, that the hurt is not to be accepted as normal and natural, but it is an abnormal and unacceptable condition for humanness. Thus compassion that might be seen simply as generous goodwill is in fact criticism of the system, forces, and ideologies that produce the hurt," said scholar and theologian Walter Brueggemann.
It's time to take the hurt seriously.
Please note that Tavis and Dr. Cornel West will embark on "The Poverty Tour 2.0" sponsored in-part by HuffPost Live this Wednesday, September 12. For more information, visit: www.povertytour.smileyandwest.com or you can follow the conversation with the Twitter hashtag: #ThePovertyTour.
Follow Tavis Smiley on Twitter: www.twitter.com/tavissmiley
Derek Flood: The End of Compassionate Conservatism? Why Jesus and Today's GOP Don't Mix
Please watch this video about a 44 yr old black man with special needs who got lost while on vacation in Myrtle Beach with his parents, His father is a pastor in Cartersville GA and his mom has cancer. They need their son home. He has been missing for 6 weeks now, He has a very bad speech imediment and cannot communicate well. PLEASE get the word out about this man. It seems the national media isn't interested in this man's plight.
His name is Johnny Lamar Brown and he is listed NamUs and NCIC.
They don't???
Why not?
I have a feeling they DO vote. I have a feeling they mostly vote Democratic.
I have a feeling their lot hasn't improved.
But don't mistake me for a Republican, especially not a Bush supporter. I'm not.
The answer is outside the mainstream parties.
If the poor started voting in record numbers, then the politicians would be there to help them with more government programs to help them, so the politicians can get their votes, but not helping people get the education needed to be a productive citizen.
Some people don't believe the power they have in their votes.
First, there has to be education of the people for them to contribute to society they are receiving aid from.
The Bible does say that people perish because of the lack of knowledge.
Good points about the poor. The truth is that the poorest of the poor almost never vote. They have a hard enough time keeping their lives together and keeping going from day to day. People would be surprised at how many people are so disconnected they couldn't tell you who the president is. And those people are unlikely ever to vote unless their life circumstances changes substantially. But that doesn't mean they don't need our help.
I agree, those that really need help should get it. Humanity should be defined by how it cares for its most needy. The problem is, so many (white/black/asian/hispanic) abuse that help. And the system of help is so broken that it allows that abuse.
I grew up very very poor. So I can speak from experience. You have to rise above it all. There is plenty of opportunity to achieve a good life. And you also have to realize that most people are not able to achieve "greatness" or be "rich". It's the way it is. It's nature. And without economic classes, the world would never evolve.
Once you accept that there is no level playing field and you have to fight your way to your dream, you will. Most accept the help they are given and then continue to ask for more.
It's misdirected anger.
I notice that many of the commentators place all poor people in one basket, whereas in reality they are as diverse as rich people. Just as there is a Bill Gates or Warren Buffet juxtaposed to the Koch brothers, so are there millions of poor people whose situation has resulted from repression, bad breaks, or simply having been dropped down the wrong chimney.
I grew up in the deep south, and have seen with my own eyes how the then southern Democrats, now Republicans have done everything in their power to ensure that people of color are denied access to the means of advancement. And this is not only true of the South, as immortalized in Randy Newman's song, Rednecks.
The voters can express their displeasure in two ways: first, switch channels whenever a political ad comes on, and second, support a party that does not accept donations from corporations or other large entities. Is there such a party? Yes! The Green Party of the United States.
We have deadlock because the people refuse to educate themselves to the possibility of another way, specifically through a multi-party system. It works wonderfully in several other advanced countries, so there is no fundamental reason why it could not work here. Try it, you'll like it.
That's really what Tavis Smiley needs to emphasize.
"Use it or lose it"
That would be be message to all so-called "unlikely" voters. The GOP got into power because a lot of poor people didn't vote. Unless poor people vote, they will get betrayed time and time again.
P.S. The GOP's attempts to rig the 2012 election is a good reason to re-hire Obama and to fire the entire GOP, which has declared war on the basic principles of American democracy.
More and more this insurance is used for banking cartels and private health care concerns (Medicare Part D being a prime example) to the counter-interests of the taxpayers whose funds are being used.
We are 2/3s' of theway down the Road to Serfdom, as brought to us by the Milton Friedman acolytes, Mitt Romneys, and Ersline Bowles of the world.