Posted on 06/05/2011 6:33:38 AM PDT by Servant of the Cross
Former senator John Edwards is back in the news. As a politician, Edwards’s main theme was “poverty.” He ran on this issue twice in Democratic presidential primaries and as candidate for vice president in 2004. Edwards famously declared there were “two Americas,” one rich and one poor; as a candidate, he spent most of his time exaggerating the chasm between the two.
In Edwards’s vision of America, nearly 40 million Americans live in “terrible” conditions, their daily life a “struggle with incredible poverty.” According to Edwards, America’s poor, who number “one in eight of us … do not have enough money for the food, shelter, and clothing they need.”
In his stump speeches, Edwards proclaimed, ”Tonight, a 10-year-old little girl will go to bed hungry, hoping and praying that tomorrow will not be as cold as today because she doesn’t have the coat to keep her warm.” Challenged by skeptics, Edwards’s staff reluctantly admitted the girl was “metaphorical.” But that never stopped Edwards from featuring her in speech after speech as the symbol of the “plague of poverty” ravaging an eighth of the nation.
Edwards understood the emotive power of the word “poverty.” To the average American, “poverty” means significant material deprivation, an inability to provide a family with adequate nutritious food, reasonable shelter, and clothing. Liberal activists reinforce this view, declaring that being poor in U.S. means being “unable to obtain the basic material necessities of life.” The news media amplify this idea; most new stories on poverty in the U.S. feature homeless families, people living in crumbling shacks, or lines of the downtrodden eating in soup kitchens.
It is true that, while Edwards was on the campaign trail, the U.S. Census Bureau regularly declared that nearly 40 million Americans were living “in poverty.” The question is, how many of the 40 million people defined as “poor” by the government were actually living in the dire conditions described by Edwards and the mainstream media? The answer: very few. As scholar James Q. Wilson has stated, “The poorest Americans today live a better life than all but the richest persons a hundred years ago.”
While Edwards campaigned for the presidency, the typical “poor” household, as defined by the government, had air conditioning and a car. For entertainment, the household had cable or satellite TV, two color televisions, a DVD player, and a VCR. If there were children in the home (especially boys), the family had a game system such as an X-box or Play Station.
These are verifiable government data, not metaphors. And there are more. The typical “poor” kitchen had a microwave, refrigerator, oven, and stove. Other household conveniences included a clothes washer, clothes dryer, ceiling fans, cordless phones, and a coffee maker.
The home of the average poor family was not overcrowded and was in good repair. In fact, the typical poor American had more living space than the average European. (Note: That’s average European, not poor European.) The family was able to obtain medical care when needed.
By its own report, the family was not hungry; actually, the majority of poor adults, like most Americans, were overweight. When asked, most poor families stated they had had sufficient funds during the past year to meet all essential needs. While poor families struggled to make ends meet, in most cases, they were struggling to pay for a car, air conditioning, and cable TV, while putting ample food on the table.
Edwards lectured the public endlessly about children in poverty, painting pictures of toddlers with empty stomachs living in shacks. But he never discussed the causes of child poverty. These are: very low levels of work among poor parents (even during economic boom times) and the collapse of marriage in low-income communities.
Ironically, Edwards was right about “two nations” in one sense: marriage is now the main economic dividing line among families. Today, over 40 percent of children are born outside marriage. America is rapidly evolving into two castes: Children in the top half are being raised by married parents with college degrees, while children in the bottom third are born to and raised by unmarried mothers with a high-school degree or less.
Another topic Edwards scrupulously avoided was the size of the welfare state. Last year, government spent nearly $900 billion on means-tested assistance, providing cash, food, housing, medical care, and social services to low-income Americans. This sum (which does not include Social Security and Medicare) amounts to over $20,000 for each poor American.
As the nation’s most vocal anti-poverty warrior, Edwards always maintained a pious silence about topics such as the causes of poverty and the size of the welfare state. Instead, living in a $5 million mansion and sporting $450 haircuts, he intoned endlessly about little girls with empty stomachs who walked to school, on cold wintry mornings, without even a coat to keep warm. Behind the empty rhetoric was a man with vanity and ambition, and not much else.
Hard to believe that a guy with such great hair could be a criminal.
John Edwards does know something about poverty now,poverty of the soul.
Seems to me that all “class warriors” are charlatans.
He can reflect on the error of his ways in the rec yard.
The ‘mighty’ fall quickly.
Edwards was right about ‘two Americas’. There is the liberal/communism/socialistic maggots and then there is us. The marriage argument that the author made is simply a result of the first group of idiots being in positions of authority and in government.
Former senator John EdwardsI just like that phrase for some reason. Thanks Servant of the Cross.
Seems to me that all Democrats are Class Warriors.
Charlatans.
They have used the “poor”, the “Homosexual”, The “women who need abortions”, The “Hispanics”, The “Code Pinko’s” and turned the Democrat party into the party of “Special” Interests. Those interests being Not what you can do for your country,but what can this country can do for ME.
The Special interest of GIMME
Gimmie Free Health care
Gimme Subsidies for my crops.
Gimme Social Security
Gimme a Gubmint job.
Gimme Gay Pride month
Gimme payback because my Great Great Grandaddy was a slave.
Gimme Citizenship when I cross the border illegally
Hell, let’s go all the way. Gimme a Government jet to go on vacation anytime I wish, Gimme two, so I can send my wife one place and I go another. Gimme unlimited Golf at any military base I want to play at, Gimme a gym for my Bassettball buddies,Gimme Wagyu steak, Gimme 6 Doctors to travel with me, Gimme a tank for a car, and 50 Secret Service agents to protect me.Gimme Billions to send to my Muslim pals,Gimme a private chef to prepare my food in foreign countries. The list goes on farther than this bandwidth will take me.
When A annoys or injures B on the pretense of saving or improving X, A is a scoundrel. - H. L. Mencken
Thanks to the National Enquirer for doing the job of the MSM.
Wow. I don’t spend that much time on my hair in a whole weekend- hint Johnny boy: ponytail. Quick, easy, versatile.
His cellmate will appreciate his efforts to look nice though. Wonder if he is as good at laundry. Hope he paid attention to that and putting on lipstick to keep his future husband happy.
Great quote. We need a few H.L. Mencken's today. Like your tagline.
Remember - 1/2 of all Americans live below the median income!!
(Lies, damn lies, and statistics)
The tagline occurred to me as I was sitting at a light behind one of those “Somewhere in Texas...” bumper stickers. I googled “Somewhere in Kenya a village is missing its idiot.” and got over a million hits. It’s not completely original, but it was independently arrived at.
And furnishing a flattering picture of the skank!
Where are all the Iowa idiots who endorsed this guy ?
Why does Iowa claim the right to pick anything ?
Great hair my foot! I’m a 55 year old silver fox with a great head of salt ‘n’ pepper hair(all my own, no hair replacement or wig) that’d put Edwards to shame, if I do say so and I do!
‘’Gimmie that thing/gimmie gimie that/gimmie that thing/gimmie gimmie that/ gimmie that thing/gimmie gimmie that gimmie gimmie gimmie that thing!’’ :-)
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