As a social worker in this community over the past three decades, I have seen the resources allocated to those living in poverty rise and fall. In recent years, there has been a steady downward spiral. At both federal and state levels, budgets cuts are being made that severely jeopardize the well-being of our most vulnerable citizens.
It is difficult to witness the current congressional debate on who will receive a tax break, knowing that the income of the top 1 percent of wealthiest Americans has risen close to 75 percent in the past 30 years. At the same time, the income of those on the lowest rung of the ladder has seen only a 1-percent increase.
The number of people who are struggling just to survive is growing larger each day. Their days are spent with concerns other than tax breaks. They have to deal with obtaining adequate food; locating decent, affordable housing; searching for employment; and accessing healthcare.
Who are these people who lack security and basic necessities?
They are single moms with toddlers who are losing their already meager benefits from Temporary Assistance for Needy Families because their allocated time has simply run out.
They are people with disabilities trying to obtain income benefits, who are facing endless application and appeal processes with Social Security.
They are the homeless veterans who have served multiple tours in Iraq who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder and sleep outdoors.
They are young women fleeing domestic violence, forced to give up home and economic security and now fearing for their lives.
Are these people among the deserving poor? Or the undeserving poor? Are they in the 47 percent that do not pay taxes and are a drain on our economy? Who do we see when we look at these people?
When we see the young woman with a few small children in tattered clothing by her side at the grocery store, paying with food stamps, who do we see? Do we see a woman milking the system, having children only to get more money for herself? Or do we see a mother juggling college courses and holding down a part-time job, trying to make ends meet?
When we see the thin, worn faces of the countless young men on the evening news who have been arrested for burglary, who do we see? Do we see a useless junkie, a calculating thief, who would rather steal than earn a living? Or do we see our neighbor’s son who lost his job, got evicted and desperately needs treatment for the disease of addiction?
I am reminded of the question Jesus posed to his disciples, “Who do you say that I am?” I often wonder how these people are seen by those who craft the federal and state budget plans. Or if they are seen at all.
Perceptions, values and priorities dictate how state and federal budgets are developed. These budgets are moral documents because they are clear expressions of our society’s priorities.
Do your values support a budget that increases the wealth of the top 2 percent at the expense of those in need? Can we go about our business each day, pretending that people living in poverty don’t exist? Can we give charity and continue to be blind to issues of justice? How can any one of us feel secure when so many have no security at all?
Cuts to supports for our most vulnerable citizens are unacceptable. Viable alternatives must be pursued: Close tax loopholes, restore higher tax rates for the top 2 percent, roll back military spending, get out of the business of war, confront pharmaceutical monopolies, end big oil subsidies — the list goes on.
Our voices are critical in the political process. We are at a pivotal juncture because fiscal decisions will be made soon. We must work to resist the powerful influences that will dictate priorities that privilege those who are already privileged.
During this season of Christmas, as we celebrate the birth of a homeless baby without a roof over his head, loudly proclaim to your senators and representatives that protecting the most vulnerable is the only way to real security for all.
Mary Ellen Quinn, of Winterport, is co-coordinator of Pax Christi Maine, a region of the Catholic peace and justice organization Pax Christi USA, and a licensed social worker serving people in greater Bangor for the past 30 years.
tell the people that are milking the system to stop. then there would be plenty of money to help the needy.
Yep
The poor are not the problem and they are not to blame.
Very interesting article.. Some people i guarantee will read this and blame it all on the ones that are milking the system.. Yes thee are those that are maybe milking the system.. But how many are actually doing this, and how can we catch them? Right now every day i keep hearing about all these cuts to the system and still we have people milking the system.. How can a person with an income of less than 10,000 a year be milking the system? What about those that are mentioned in this article? The ones wearing torn tattered dirty clothing and have 2 children under toe that are dressed the same.. One never knows the situation of another till we are put in their shoes.. I have had people tell me that i wasn’t disabled i was just fat and lazy. Well maybe so but do they realize that i didn’t ask to be disabled.. I didn’t ask to have half an artificial knee, And i certainly didn’t ask for 14 herniated discs in my back either.. But to look at me in a grocery store riding an electric mart cart, one would not know my issues.. I still think some people are just a little too quick to judge.. Which brings me to the point i am trying to make.. The one red headed young lady that told her young boy sitting in the child seat of that push cart i heard what you told your son.. The truth lady is i really am disabled i am not just fat and lazy.. Doctors from the state of Connecticut as well as doctors from the state of Maine as well as the doctors that the social security office employ all say that i am disabled and not to try to go back to work again.. Yes again because i have tried on more than one occasion to go back to work and i couldn’t do the job on a daily basis.. Those that know me personally all can and will tell you the same, i cant do it anymore.. And just maybe that one person that you see that looks like me is in the same boat.. One never knows.. Moral of the story is don’t be so quick to judge another till you have walked in their shoes.. But yes i do agree there are some that milk the system.. There are some that are just too plain lazy to go to work.. There should be some kind of like 3 day test to see about those that are faking or not maybe some kind of work simulation like bending and taking a reading or lifting and taking a reading etc walking running hell even sitting.. But i do not believe there are tests that can measure ones pain.. Till there are i will not judge.. There is an old saying that goes “What goes around comes around”” I am believing that cause i have made fun of people in my younger years that were in my same predicament and now look at me..
The ones milking the system are the ones 4 generations deep on the system that are able bodied but refuse to work for a living. Instead, they keep their hand out claiming disability for some mundane issue that a doctor signed off on. Funny how we have been fighting this “war on poverty” for 50 years, and it has only grown exponentially. Fighting a war usually means winning. When do we get to claim victory? When we are broke?
Poverty is going to get much worse before it gets better. The wages are falling in this country and no one seems to have the resolve to do anything about it. We keep standing in line to buy cheap Chinese crap and continue to wonder why no one has a job or any money. It would be laughable if it wasn’t so pathetic.
Jacking up taxes on the top 2% generates about 10 days of operating revenue for the federal gov’t; it’s not a serious proposal. There aren’t enough rich people to fix this.
“End big oil subsidies.” What? Take away their business tax deductions? Will that make energy cheaper do you think? How much revenue will it generate for the gov’t?
“Do your values support a budget that increases the wealth of the top 2 percent at the expense of those in need?” A breath-takingly absurd question. Leaving tax rates where they are now does not increase anyone’s wealth.
How is your progressive redistributionist model working in Europe?
We are all Greeks now.
I have asked people numerous times what constitutes an “oil subsidy”. No one seems to know. ,…. But they all have an opinion.
Such insight from such a short article. Thank you Mary Ellen Quinn for reminding us of society’s most vulnerable, who we should not forget and remember that they are human beings who need care, not “others” who we should not think of.