The government cannot solve poverty…
…or it would have done so already.
To admit this is not to be unfairly critical of government employees, nor is it to convey an anti-government sentiment. It is based on love and respect for our fellow human beings, on a desire to do whatever it takes to end the unnecessary suffering and generational poverty of children, adults, and families across our country.
Our humanity calls for honesty, first and foremost
It requires us to think critically about what is working and what is not working, to look at what we are doing to address poverty, with no preconceived notions and no personal agendas.
For many Americans, 15 or 20 minutes of every hour we work goes to government programs administered by government employees. Yes, these programs take care of infrastructure, defense, and myriad other needs. But government officials also spend an average of $9,000 per taxpayer per year to address poverty.
These particular programs are inconsistent, some have produced results worthy of taking your hard-earned money and some have produced minimal results despite costing substantial sums of money to administer. This has nothing to do with the political debates or government actions of the current administration; there is more than 60 years of evidence that your money has not been used wisely, honestly, or effectively. Some of your neighbors have paid a dear price for that, while others have made a high salary and lots of benefits on the backs of those who have benefited little. The latter, in fact, remain in poverty, living in scarcity in a land of abundance
But it’s ours to fix
The failings of programs run by government employees are not entirely their fault; the responsibility lies with all of us for relying on them to do what we can do ourselves, in our own communities.
It’s on us to bring greater innovation and creativity.
Insert the table and accompanying text here
No relief. No cure. No prevention.
The government programs launched as part of the U.S. War on Poverty would allow the country, in the words of President Johnson, to “not only to relieve the symptom of poverty, but to cure it and, above all, to prevent it.” They have not done any of the three.
Percentage of Americans who need assistance just to get by:
1 out of 6
in 1973
1 out of 4
today
To continue tweaking our current approach is not a wise investment of your tax dollars or your charitable donations. That much we know. What we don’t know is how much we even spend on it. Many estimates place it at over one trillion dollars every single year, just on the government side. Charitable donations relative to poverty are also difficult to measure precisely, given the overlap of education, health, and other issues, but the data indicates that well over one hundred billion dollars are given on the private side each year.
What we are doing is not working
Despite this spending, everywhere you look in the United States, there is growing economic struggle. In urban America, rural America, and suburban America, our neighbors are worse off than ever, a refrain we hear everywhere we go and from everyone with whom we speak. Poverty not only persists, it has become America’s most enduring crisis. It brings with it a scarcity that is not only unnecessary in a country of such abundance, it is inhuman.