Where are the poor in the conversations of our political parties?
The Republicans don't want to talk about them at all.
The Democrats don't want to be poor again. They are glad to talk about how wonderful it is to be better off. No going back.
Around the convention floors,
Everybody loves the middle class,
Everybody fears the poor.
And well they ought.
The poor will remember.
And one day they will convene a new convention
of the unmentioned and untouchable,
They will arise and shine,
and we will be held accountable
for the strange silence
of these days.
Thanks for saying the words, Mark. The poor...the poor who are invisible at the conventions. The poor. Just say the words. See? It's not that hard.
ReplyDeleteKeep in mind that most legislators will tell you the "hardest decision" he/she has ever made was to cut aid to the poor. Like the poor vote? A hard decision would be to raise taxes on the top 1% of the rich, that would be a hard decision. Cutting the budget/balancing the budget on the backs of the poor and saying it is the hardest decision she/he has ever made is just outrageous!
ReplyDeleteThe lack of mention of the poor by both parties is indeed striking. In my list of truths for the presidential campaign, I put it this way: “Presidential campaigns were once about how we treat the poor. Now they are ostensibly about the middle class, though the main beneficiaries of government policy are large corporations and the wealthy.”
ReplyDelete