In the Rough - The Blog of Joel McDonald Jr.

From the Obama HQ Blog:

Over the past few days, wildfires in Southern California have destroyed more than 700 homes and burned over 35,000 acres of land, forcing many more families to evacuate their communities.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to those who have been affected by the fires.

The Red Cross and Salvation Army are coordinating relief for the victims, and volunteers on the ground are being organized to help with long-term recovery efforts in the days and months to come. If you live in or near Southern California you can volunteer now, and no matter where you live you can help by donating to the relief efforts.

Throughout the campaign, we saw time and again that when ordinary people act together, they can make a huge difference.

Visit CaliforniaVolunteers.org for more information on how you can help.

I’ve been monitoring the backlash that has flooded throughout California, and is evident throughout the nation, caused by the passage of of California’s Proposition 8 which infringes on the fundamental right of some individuals to marry due to the gender of their partner.

The anger and the determination to somehow reverse the damage done by the passage of this proposition is warranted, and understandable. Any people treated as though they are below some false standard the majority has set into place, and therefore not privileged to equal protection, privileges, and justice under the law should respond visibly and forcefully. Throughout the nation, rallies and protests are being organized and held; however, while people should not take any limitation upon the freedoms of individuals lying down, violence is not the path best taken on the way to ensuring equality under the law.

Yes, there is anger; but that anger should be bridled and used for constructive purposes. It should fuel the research, the protests, and the legal struggles. Truly, anger is not the best word to describe the outrage that every American should feel when another’s rights are threatened. It is indignation that we should all be feeling. Those who fight for civil rights will never stop fighting. Theirs is the just cause. Their victories lead to a more civil society. The victories of those who fight against the rights of the people only fuel the indignation that gives the people the cause, and the will, to continue to fight.

Those who supported the proposition to infringe upon the rights of the minority should be held accountable. The business and coalition of religious organizations that have done so should be made known. Somehow, they should feel the inconvenience of being restricted by the protests of the people against their actions. They should lose money, and members. They should be held responsible for their involvement in the political process and their attempt to influence the outcome of an election. I wonder, what ever happened to separating what is Caesar’s and what is God’s?

For those fighting discrimination in our government; please continue. Do all that you can to ensure the equality of all in the eyes of the law, but do so without vandalism and violence. We must remember that we are not the aggressors here, and fighting a battle about love cannot be won through attacks of hate.

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.

The documentary Religulous follows political humorist and author Bill Maher (”Real Time With Bill Maher,” “Politically Incorrect”) as he travels around the globe interviewing people about God and religion. Known for his astute analytical skills, irreverent wit and commitment to never pulling a punch, Maher brings his characteristic honesty to an unusual spiritual journey.

Viewers follow Maher through his travels where he counters the certainties proffered by religion with doubt based on the acceptance of the larger picture of the world. In short, Maher attempts to show the fallacy that so many accept when they view their beliefs as being the truth, and the beliefs of millions, if not billions, of others as being false.

Maher also makes the argument that mankind seems determined that self fulfill the prophecies of the end times through hatred, war, and environmental carelessness; and makes the argument that religion is a deterrent to solving these problems.

As someone who has had somewhat a varied religious experience, having gone from being raised with no religion, finding God in a baptist church, being baptized by a Southern Baptist chaplain, converting to Mormonism, serving a two year Mormon mission, and then losing my faith in organized religion altogether; I understood the defensiveness of many Maher interviewed, recognized the arguments and the reasoning employed, and understood why, no matter how valid and strong the logical arguments Maher employed during the interviews, the believers would not accept the possibility they were wrong or that anything was wrong with their faith.

At one point, Maher stated that people were not willing to be critical of their faith with outsiders, even if they are highly critical internally. I wish I could find a direct quote on that, but that’s basically the gist of what he said. Looking back to my experience as a Latter-day Saint (Mormon), and how even though my faith in the church wavered often as a missionary, I was able and willing to defend the tenants of the church regardless of my internal doubt. In fact, it was in defending the faith that I found any strength at all toward the end of my mission; even when my actual faith in God and the possibility of a true church was minimal. Much of the studying I did on my mission on general and religious history was with an eye to finding something that would spark the fire of faith again. I was researching to defend the faith to myself and prove that my religion was not false; however, all I found was more evidence which led me to conclude the very opposite.

I highly recommend this film to anyone, religious and non-religious alike. I think it’s a healthy dose of reality in a society where religion is so divisive an issue.

Forest Whitaker, Jason Alexander, Whoopi Goldberg, Cyndi Lauper, Barry Manilow, Joan Baez, Macy Gray and Joss Stone. They appear alongside veterans, teachers and everyday citizens — all of whom have been touched by this simple idea of change.

Barack Obama will accept the Democratic Party Nomination for President 45 years to the day of King’s “I Have a Dream” speech. ‘America’ as a concept is a truly great idea, based on the bedrock of equality.

[Related post at The Huffington Post]