When we think of the term “poverty” we generally conjure up the images broadcasted by various charities asking for our help to end hunger in various African nations, and other developing countries. No doubt that these people are in dire need of assistance, as poverty for them is a way of life in their society, and each day is a matter of life or death.
There is a different kind of poverty, much closer to home, that may not seem as dire as the type shown on television. Throughout the United States, there are people who struggle from day to day to provide for themselves and their families. The quantity and quality of the food they are able to place on their tables is always in question. Often we tend to forget about these people, our very neighbors, in our vision of our nation as being the land of plenty.
We talk of the middle class often. Recently, I heard a comment from a C-SPAN viewer that asked about those who are under the middle class, the unspoken lower class. Where are these people, and how are they surviving when those in the middle class are suffering as well?
According to a 2007 US Census Bureau report, poverty is defined as “$20,614; for a family of three, $16,079; for a family of two, $13,167; and for unrelated individuals, $10,294″. This same report show the number of families under the poverty threshold as declining. It’s really difficult to understand the thresholds provided. Here in Virginia Beach, an individual income of $10,294 would be next to impossible to live on without some sort of government assistance. Even doubling that number, things would still be tight. My yearly rent alone, including utilities, runs $12,000 a year; and I wouldn’t call myself upper middle class. I think a strong argument could be made in adjusting the poverty thresholds to gain a more accurate picture of how many people in the United States are struggling.
Many individuals and families, if not already in poverty, are on the very edge of poverty. Not being able to pay their basic bills, rent, mortgage, nutritious meals, education, health care, and transportation costs, is a fear which keeps many up at night and a reality that far too many face everyday. One illness, one accident, one layoff, and families find themselves unable to meet their needs. And while poverty in this sense is relative, even the most responsible families find it hard to prepare for the worst to defend against being financially unstable.
While there should always be individual responsibility, the vision and policies of the government should recognize that there are responsible people who still struggle. Opportunities can and should be provided to assist those drowning in their finances, as long as there is an acceptable level of accountability attached to those opportunities. The difference between our nation and the nations we see broadcasted on our television screens is that our nation has the ability to provide assistance when its citizens struggle.
Government assistance has been a major area of contention between conservatives and liberals. On one extreme is a completely free market and on the other is a socialized welfare state. Most people fall somewhere in the middle, recognizing that people need to be able to conduct business with minimal government interference while also having some level of expectation that there will be protections in place by the government in the event of failure. I believe it is somewhere in the middle that an acceptable solution to government assistance can be found. We can’t expect opportunities and financial stability to automatically reach those who struggle in a free market, and we can’t punish the upper class through a great redistribution of wealth.
Poverty, however, affects all of us. While your next door neighbors may struggle to make their house payments, others are forced onto the streets and into desperation. Desperation leads to public appeals on street corners for housing, food, and money. Desperation leads to schemes to make ends meet, in which laws are broken. The desperation of those who are without will spill over to all areas of society. Poverty leads to the desperation that results in the reports of theft, injury, and murder we hear regularly on our nightly local new. If we as a nation can help to decrease or even eliminate that desperation, I believe we should.
If you are able, consider going above and beyond whatever the government decides to provide as assistance to those who struggle. Get involved in a charity, make a donation to something that has a positive affect on society, especially those organizations which reach out to those struggling financially. A little at a time, we can have a positive affect on those who struggle, and positive affect on society as a whole. A little at time, we can fight poverty.
This post was written to participate in Blog Action Day 2008, where bloggers around the world wrote on one topic, on one day: poverty.
