Plank: Poverty

While we treasure our freedom to succeed, we must not allow those that fail to live lives in the margins, devoid of hope.

- The homeless are fellow citizens, and should be treated as treasured members of our communities. Mental health treatment should be available to those who need it, as well as substance abuse treatment, and continuing education in job and life skills.

- The poor and chronically unemployed should receive similar treatment, before a crisis pushes them into homelessness.

- The working poor should not destined to stay that way. Continuing education should be made available to enhance marketable skills, leading to better incomes and standards of living.

Preventative and proactive handling of poverty, and the usually attendant substance abuse, will impact crime.

Taxing the Dead to Death

As I've mentioned before, I love getting e-mail from Sojourners. It's like having a conversation with a very young child, who in learning to speak, makes some interesting nonsense along the way. This issue was the Estate Tax, and how those mean old republicans want to make it go away. Jim Wallis himself is up on the soapbox this time.

let's call it a "common good tax" - is focused where it was intended, on those who have benefited so much from the opportunities of America. In a very real sense, the estate tax is a repayment for the public services and infrastructure that enable wealth creation - our transportation system of highways, bridges, and airports; our legal and educational systems; and many other investments we make in our society.

Earth to Jim, Earth to Jim, that's why we have several taxes ALREADY IN PLACE to handle those issues:

Federal Income Tax
Capital Gains Tax
State Income Tax
Property Tax
Federal Gasoline Tax
Sales Tax (most states)
Motor Vehicle Tax (as if standing in line at the DMV wasn't taxing enough)
Telecommunications Fees (Universal Service Fund)

It is only right that having benefited so much from the opportunities of America, the wealthiest should be obligated to return some of their good fortune to expand the opportunities of other Americans..

If you look at the list of taxes above, you'll see that those with the most are already paying more than most. What Democrats want is a chance to tax someone's income and wealth twice, maybe even three or four times, from generation to generation.

Is this the America that we want? One whose top policy priority is to make the rich richer while abandoning the most needed efforts to reduce poverty and protect the common good?

Enough with the class-struggle rhetoric. It's a shame that Sojourners has become a shill for Tax-N-Spend Democrats, as all this talk about faith ends up sounding hollow when it's just being used to justify an attempt at socialism.

Feeding the Hungry

So, you're walking down a city street, and are waiting to cross the street. On the other corner, you see a bedraggled, bearded man in dirty clothes seated near the stoop of a closed shop. What do YOU do?

Cross the opposite way to avoid the situation all together? Do you walk right by him, averting both eyes and conscience, or maybe pledging to yourself to give some money to the local soup kitchen? Do you give him some money, hoping that it doesn't end up becoming alcohol?

What do YOU do?

I'll tell you what I do once I see some conversation on this topic. Tell your friends, and have them chime in.


My Solution:

About 5 years ago, I was walking down the street, pushing my baby son in a stroller, and was approached by a homeless man. I saw him from a ways, before I got there, hitting up some other man for some money, so I knew what was coming. As our paths intersected, he said "Excuse me, mister.." , and I just looked straight ahead and kept walking.

Even as I was walking away, I just couldn't believe what I was doing. The internal debate raged.
"He's just going to use it to buy alcohol."
"Or, maybe, Jesus is hungry, and you just walked by him, you dick!"
"What am I supposed to do? I give money to the Matt Talbot Kitchen, and the People's City Mission. Isn't that enough?"
" Dude, you're rationalizing. The man was asking you for help, and you couldn't even LOOK at him."

I started buying gift cards. McDonalds, BK, coffee shops, and some retail places are all good, as long as there's no alcohol. I had to make sure that wherever I found someone and gave them a card, they wouldn't have to walk miles to redeem it. Our Church's school sells gift cards for all kinds of places, as a fundraiser, so getting some cards are easy as 10 minutes after Mass.

I keep a couple in my wallet, a couple in the car, and a few extras in my jacket, so that when I'm faced with that dilemma again, I can do something more that shrug and walk away.

The Invincible Poor

How is it we cannot eliminate Poverty? We hurl gold at it, and it is still ragged. We throw our table scraps at it, yet it still hungers. We try to kill it, and yet it lives on. There are few topics that devour more time in earnest discussion, yet it is still a mystery. Why poverty? Because God wills it.

No amount of money can quench it.
No airlifts of food will fill it.
No condoms or abortions can prevent or kill it.

Every burden is a blessing by God, for those burdens come with graces to bear them. And conversely, blessings come with burdens: the responsibility of sharing the gifts we have been given. Does it start to make sense, now, why poverty will slog on despite our best efforts? God will give us myriad opportunities to be closer to Him both though trial and in reward.

For the Poor, God gives graces to live simply and under His protection, and the Poor are much more grateful, with God’s grace, for the simple things in life than are the Wealthy. The Poor are dependent on God, and can unite their sufferings to Christ on His Cross. They also are much less likely to be completely besotted with material concerns than the Wealthy.

For the Wealthy, the poor are an opportunity to separate themselves from their wealth and show love of neighbor. Resources have been given to them that can make a real difference in the lives of many poor people, and also the graces to direct those resources. Out of gratitude, the Wealthy return blessings to God by giving their wealth to the poor.

The Poor are what separate the Sheep from the Goats, according to Matthew 25 (v.31 on), and thus are necessary to God’s plan. The Sheep should be grateful for the Poor, as the Poor are integral in expressing their faith. Conversely, one can tell how much the Goats resent the mere existence of the Poor, by the efforts to eradicate them.

Jesus said that the poor will always be with us, and He with them. Embrace them both.

Merry Christmas,

Jimbob