{"id":2987,"date":"2015-03-06T23:51:42","date_gmt":"2015-03-06T23:51:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=2987"},"modified":"2016-08-29T18:37:24","modified_gmt":"2016-08-29T18:37:24","slug":"we-dont-fight-poverty-anymore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/we-dont-fight-poverty-anymore\/","title":{"rendered":"We don’t fight poverty anymore"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Lisa Dodson<\/a>, Brandeis University<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Fifty years ago, Lyndon Johnson spoke of war on poverty and pursuit of a great society. He talked about investing in education and employment and about eliminating social exclusion that comes with poverty.<\/p>\n

Above all, he pointed to opportunity for all as the backbone of a great society.<\/p>\n

Since then, LBJ and the social programs that emerged during that time have been justifiably criticized. Nonetheless, that period of domestic policy gave rise to a conviction that fighting poverty was a national cause because the whole society is stunted and degraded when millions of people live poor.<\/p>\n

Fifty years later, we don\u2019t fight poverty anymore.<\/p>\n

No safety nets today<\/h2>\n

We don\u2019t even promise to keep low-income children cared for and safe. Forget safety nets; if parents can\u2019t buy their way out of economic harm, their kids lose \u2013 a lot.<\/p>\n

We have a surfeit of data that show how poverty undermines health, development, emotional well-being and our whole life course. For example, poor children are more likely to have chronic respiratory and stress-related problems, experience obesity and to leave school before graduating, all affecting life opportunities.<\/p>\n

We know that today almost half<\/a> of US children \u2013 some thirty million \u2013 live in or near poverty.<\/p>\n

Working hard, caring for each other, trying to juggle two or three jobs with schooling and bills that outstrip wages, people living these conditions are a big part of the nation. But they slipped off the policy map years ago along with the national conviction that the welfare of our people is worth a fight.<\/p>\n

Over the last decade I have heard a lot about what happens when a nation backs down.<\/p>\n

Living in poverty: the mother\u2019s experience<\/h2>\n

In doing research on wages and family life, I have listened<\/a> to hundreds of parents \u2013 mostly mothers \u2013 describe relentless waves of crises in housing, childcare, transportation and the loss of public aid. They report a morass of obstacles to receive even the tiniest public help. They talk about a quagmire of low-wage, go-nowhere jobs that have irregular schedules, unpredictable hours and few or no benefits.<\/p>\n

As one young mother explained recently, \u201cThere\u2019s no one that cares but you, so you do what\u2019s best for your child and forget them\u2026.\u201d Another said that if your children are \u201c\u2026minority\u2026or just poor,\u201d no one seems to notice what is happening \u2013 \u201cthey just don\u2019t see,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

A grandmother asked me the question, \u201cHow would you feel if you couldn\u2019t keep your children warm?\u201d She went right to the heart of matter; how is it that we simply accept the damage and suffering that poverty is doing to so many?<\/p>\n

A centuries-old commitment to public responsibility<\/h2>\n

Back in colonial times, poverty was common cause; everyone had to pony up whether they liked it or not.<\/p>\n

If you were well heeled in a colonial-era town, you would be expected to house a struggling family or apprentice a youngster to your trade and pay a tithe for the common good.<\/p>\n

While adults were expected to work hard and overcome hardship, the whole society was responsible for creating the opportunity to make that possible.<\/p>\n

This principle \u2013 individual effort coupled with societal responsibility \u2013 remained a tense partnership for centuries, tipping back and forth.<\/p>\n

Social programs such as mothers\u2019 aid programs, social security for the elderly and disabled, child health services, unemployed workers\u2019 jobs corps, and general \u201crelief\u201d for poor families were programs that would rise and fall back.<\/p>\n

In the 1960s, LBJ described<\/a> the war on poverty as society\u2019s commitment to \u201c\u2026millions of Americans \u2013 one fifth of our people \u2013 who have not shared in the abundance which has been granted to most of us, and on whom the gates of opportunity have been closed.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the great society programs that emerged may have been deeply flawed, that did not negate the nation\u2019s responsibility for alleviating poverty. Yet in the 1990s, domestic policy went into a full retreat, dramatically cutting support for poor families.<\/p>\n

Change in the 1990s<\/h2>\n

Arguably, the greatest achievement of the 1996 welfare reform <\/a>was the consolidation of bipartisan support for making sure jobs \u2013 any job, at any wage \u2013 became the sole option for poor families.<\/p>\n

Messaged as a mix of personal responsibility and work opportunity, what was omitted was wage responsibility.<\/p>\n

The low-wage labor market gained access to hungry workers who had no option but minimum wage, no-future work disproportionately affecting<\/a> African American and Latino families.<\/p>\n

The meanest betrayal of all was a collective shrug at the impact on children. Safety nets gone, parents were tied to jobs but were unable to cover rent and heat, far be it buy childcare.<\/p>\n

What happened \u2013 what is happening \u2013 to all those kids when parents work multiple jobs, shifts, unpredictable schedules, and still can\u2019t pay the bills? Actually, there\u2019s not a lot of effort to find out anymore. But we do know half<\/a> of US children live poor and that black and Latino children are disproportionately affected<\/a>.<\/p>\n

We know reams about the effects of economic instability on children and family well-being and it is not good news.<\/p>\n

Wage responsibility: the elephant in the room<\/h2>\n

How would we renew a commitment to poverty alleviation in the US?<\/p>\n

This nation has every possible resource to face the challenge. Foremost, we have a remarkably hard-working population committed to being responsible and independent. We also have a centuries-old commitment to public responsibility and investing in human development and providing aid for those who are young, elderly, disabled or otherwise need some assistance.<\/p>\n

But the elephant in the room, when it comes to responsibility for causing as well as reducing poverty, is wage responsibility, decent jobs responsibility and business responsibility for ensuring that working people can take care of their families.<\/p>\n

This has been a decade of unsurpassed wealth gain for the richest few. Now we are beginning to see evidence of a renewed antipoverty spirit at least on the local, city and state levels. Raising the minimum wage<\/a> is a growing focus all across the country with ballot initiatives on the issue passed in five states in the November elections, including in so-called red states.<\/p>\n

At the community level nationwide, there are organizations<\/a> working to improve child care and other safety net programs for low-wage families.<\/p>\n

Working people<\/a> are joining up with progressive legislators, mayors and business leaders to take responsibility for building a better society.<\/p>\n

This article is part of a series commemorating Lyndon B Johnson\u2019s Great Society<\/a> programs<\/em><\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

This article was originally published on The Conversation<\/a>.
\nRead the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Lisa Dodson, Brandeis University Fifty years ago, Lyndon Johnson spoke of war on poverty and pursuit of a great society. He talked about investing in education and employment and about eliminating social exclusion that comes with poverty. Above all, he pointed to opportunity for all as the backbone of a great society. Since then, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40,"featured_media":7378,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[36],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2987"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/40"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2987"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2987\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2988,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2987\/revisions\/2988"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7378"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2987"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2987"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2987"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}