Demanding More From Our Politicians, and Ourselves

The numbers have been streaming in from all across the country and there's no ignoring it; poverty is on the rise. In 2009, almost 44 million Americans fell below the poverty line. Most tragically, more young people than ever are leaving for school in the morning not from home but from shelters, friends' couches or elsewhere. They are the estimated one million homeless students in this country.

As the mid-term elections near and we all begin demanding promises from politicians not known for keeping them, activists are asking how we're going to engage those seeking our votes on issues of poverty and homelessness.

In Oregon, the Rev. Chuck Currie noted that 19,000 children in the state's public school system were homeless, a 5.5 percent increase from the previous year and a 134 percent increase over the past seven.

"As the 2010 election campaign rages where are the politicians and how will they address growing poverty and homelessness, particularly the needs of homeless students?" he asked before offering some policy suggestions — expanding TANF funding (something we have also encouraged), certain tax credits, a realignment with the Half in Ten campaign to cut poverty by 50 percent in a decade.

In Loveland, Colorado, an anti-poverty group recently posed questions about poverty and homelessness and the role of government and the private sector in ameliorating problems to politicians running for local office. Some of the solutions offered: luring green-energy industries in to create more jobs; expand educational opportunities to create skilled workers; direct government action in keeping down the cost of living. So far, so good.

Of course, as the debate plays out everywhere, the main disagreement was where funding for poverty- and homeless-eradication programs ought to come from — the public or private sector. Unlike social justice issues like gay rights and environmental protection, few argue with ending poverty and homelessness. Still, no one can agree how to do it.

While it remains my opinion that the moral and social climate of a country cannot be separated from the political (and so a laissez-faire approach to social ills is the surest way to destruction), my libertarian friends do have a point in that, no matter what the government is doing, individual citizens always have a moral imperative to act on their beliefs. It is within the power of each of us who care to organize a debate among those seeking our votes; to donate time, sweat or money to agencies working concretely towards ending homelessness; to create our own movements locally or nationally. In the age of shrinking public funding and the neo-Tea Party, these individual actions are needed more than ever. If we want answers, we've got to ask the questions.

Photo credit: Isaac Wedin