Posted by Benjamin on: 08.03.2007 /
1 Billion people in the world live in extreme poverty on less than US$1/day
The United States has a gross domestic product of US$13.2 Trillion, or $44,000/person, or $120/person/day
Should world poverty be a big issue in the ‘08 U.S. presidential election?
“It’s in our generation’s gift to end the kind of stupid poverty that means a child dies of hunger in a world of plenty”
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Comment by: joe
1 08/3/07 5:12 AM | Comment Link |Yes, obviously.
Comment by: David H
2 08/3/07 9:08 AM | Comment Link |God is a social reformer, therefore God’s people should be social reformers. Ending poverty was a big part of God’s social agenda when he launched Project Promised Land a few thousand years ago. So, Christians involved in politics should have poverty as a major issue. And Christians who see this country as the new Israel (I don’t count myself among them) should absolutely follow the social agenda set down by God for ending poverty in this country.
I found myself embroiled the other day in a discussion at the “onehandclapping” blog. I had been drawn there just to visit by julie Clawson’s amusing and provocative piece for Sojourners: “My Search for the Justice Bra.”
The discussion underway at onehandclapping when I stopped by was ostensibly about whether some posters were meant to motivate or ridicule people.
One blogger, who made it clear he knew those behind the emergent church are not Christians, included the following quote: “I am asking them to refrain from repainting Jesus into some kind of subversive social reformer.”
As I considered his position, it struck me that it isn’t just Jesus who was a subversive social reformer. Deuteronomy and Leviticus are full of laws that are part of the Mosaic code. Jews and Christians consider those to be handed down directly from God. While some, such as dietary restrictions, are no longer considered relevant by most modern Christians, many conservatives still turn to that rule book for restrictions on other activities including homosexuality (kind of ironic that many still believe homsexuals shoud be killed because of Leviticus 20:13 but not men caught in adultery, 20:10).
But here is what God said as part of his radical social agenda for Israel: “… there should be no poor among you, for in the land the LORD your God is giving you to possess as your inheritance, he will richly bless you, if only you fully obey the LORD your God and are careful to follow all these commands I am giving you today.” (Deut. 15:4-5).
What were those commands? Every seven years Israelites were to cancel all debts with each other. All loans to fellow Israelites had to be interest free. They were told not to withhold loans even if the 7th year was near. They were told to be “open-handed” in giving to their brothers. They were told to set slaves free after six years. And every 50 years was to be the year of Jubilee, when all land had to be returned to its original owners (the American Indians might love it if Christians pushed for a return to that practice).
It seems clear that God believed he created a world with enough for everyone. Likewise, he clearly believed that some would be better at accumulating that plenty than others. So he established rules unlike any other at the time for redistributing wealth. The US government has toppled many a foreign government for practices far less radical — such as the democratically elected government of Guatemala.
Wikipedia: In 1954, [Guatemalan President] Arévalo’s freely elected successor, Jacobo Arbenz, was overthrown by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and a small group of Guatemalans (landowners, the old military caste, and the Catholic Church), after the government instituted decree No. 900, which expropriated large tracts of land owned by the United Fruit Company, a U.S.-based banana merchant (Chiquita Banana).
Forget year of Jubilee, our government offed the guy for giving a few thousand acres back to the peasants of his country so they would have a chance at a self-sustaining lifestyle. (He wasn’t the first and certainly not the last killed at the behest of the US government for instituting radical social reform. My acquaintance with this came at the hands of some native Guatemalans when I was there in 1980.)
So, elimination of poverty is on God’s social agenda. No one who reads the Bible can argue with that (they may quibble over who gets the benefits of the practices advocated by God, but God’s intent is clear).
However, even though I believe this should be on the political agenda for the coming presidential election I don’t hold much hope that politicians can accomplish much on this front. For one thing, advocating a social agenda hasn’t been particularly helpful to American politicians in the past. Even more important may be that politics is a poor vehicle (at least in a democracy) for the radical reforms necessary to have a real impact on poverty. Forty years ago politicians successfully pushed through many laws designed to end racist practices in this country. Those have had, arguably, almost no effect on ending racist attitudes in this country.
Forgive me if this is a bit wordy or reads like a college paper.
Comment by: Rachel
3 08/3/07 9:51 AM | Comment Link |Yes, it should be a big issue in every election and I have written letters to my members of Congress letting them know that I base my votes largely on their level of commitment to ending extreme poverty.
Well I am asking fundamentalists to stop denying that Jesus WAS a subversive social reformer. The early church fathers certainly understood Jesus that way.
BTW, it seems Jesus’ mother was a bit of a left-wing radical herself. “He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty.” Luke 1:52-53
I imagine the Religious Right would accuse Mary of “class warfare” and I don’t envision her being asked to give any speeches at Republican conventions.
Comment by: joe
4 08/3/07 10:07 AM | Comment Link |Hehehehe you are so right, Rachel.
I love it when you can show fundamentalists don’t even read the bible they say they believe in.
Comment by: Pamela Lyn
5 08/3/07 10:29 AM | Comment Link |To David H — If your post was a colllege paper it would certainly receive an “A”.
I agree that as followers of Jesus we have a mandate to be social activists. However, I am not hopeful that global poverty will be a major issue in voters’ minds in ‘08. The candidates that are currently making those issues the heart of their campaigns are running in third to last place.
Sadly, so much of society, including the church community is caught up in celebrity worship and material consumption that the value they place on a life in Africa or any foreign country is minimal.
For example while Bono’s Buy RED campaign is a wonderful way to raise appeal to consumer’s social conscious when a person doesn’t ask themselves “do I really need this product?”, it misses the point.
I can’t prove this but I suspect that if every person of faith who purchased an iPhone, hi-def television, blackberry, luxury SUV or an equivalent big ticket item within the last two years had decided to live with what they had and give that money to an organization fighting world hunger we would well on the way to eradicating that problem.
Comment by: Got Poverty? « Compassion in Politics
6 08/3/07 10:38 AM | Comment Link |[...] 3rd, 2007 · No Comments The folks over at Justice and Compassion have an interesting post about global poverty and the One Campaign to eradicate [...]
Comment by: David H
7 08/3/07 10:43 AM | Comment Link |I’m sure Mary wouldn’t describe herself as a class warrior, merely a mother who doesn’t believe any child should be naked or starving.
Certainly Jesus was not just a social reformer and God isn’t just about changing the class system that seems inherently human. But undoubtedly both were and are intent on changing how people live in every way.
God’s greatest demonstration of loving the have-nots was the gift of his son, given to those poor in spirit. Jesus didn’t come for those rich with righteousness — if they are truly righteous they don’t need him. He came for those who are poor and sick and hungry.
Comment by: Staci
8 08/3/07 2:14 PM | Comment Link |Of course it SHOULD be an important issue. One of the difficulties in really getting candidates to engage on this issue is that those who have enough wealth to run for president are so far removed from poverty - even relative poverty - that it is nearly (but not completely) impossible to have true understanding of the issue. Almost all are generations removed from even middle class living, let alone the lives of those in poverty. I think perhaps poverty must be as incomprehensible to them as extreme wealth is to those with minimal means.
It would therefore take extensive time and effort for a candidate to really understand the importance this issue. (Perhaps like a camel passing through the eye of a needle??) If a candidate took that amount of time on this issue, they would likely be accused of being a “one issue candidate” or at least very lacking in other areas. Add to that that in order to raise enough funds to have any hope of winning the presidency, a candidate must be constantly fundraising and you get a recipe for further separation of classes. This system encourages candidates to pay attention to the most wealthy and accumulate more while avoiding areas they are naturally uncomfortable confronting.
So many of our systems encourage this type of behavior. For example, though there are tax breaks for charitable giving, the wealthy can sometimes get a greater tax benefit from expanding their real estate portfolio. This is just a small example of the larger systemic problem that makes me think that, while important that poverty is on the minds of candidates, it is going to take a much larger movement to affect - and continue to affect - change.
Comment by: Rachel
9 08/3/07 7:18 PM | Comment Link |Welcome to Justice and Compassion, Pamela Lyn!
Comment by: Martin Gugino
10 08/3/07 9:59 PM | Comment Link |1.Yes, it should be, whether America is a Christian culture or not.
2.The comment that “people live on $1/day” does not mean that those people ever see or have money.
3. RE: Guatemala. noted.
4. RE: Eye of the needle. Why do we pray for the poor rather than for the rich?
Comment by: Benjamin
11 08/4/07 6:53 AM | Comment Link |David,
You seem to be saying that political solutions to poverty generally don’t work, or can rather backfire. Am I reading you correctly? This makes sense to me, and I find it a bit frustrating. How about harm reduction? Can the political arena be used to …. at least gradually start reducing the harmful practices? I’d love to hear this be a talked about question among the candidates for president. At Boeing, they have design engineers, and manufacturing engineers. The former engineer the actual airplanes, while the latter engineer the process for building the airplanes. We kind of need both types of things going on in the political arena as well, don’t you think? We need visionary leaders who can imagine and communicate their ideas of what the world should be like, but we also need them to have practical, … gentle steps for getting there which won’t cause even more harm along the way. Does that make sense?
Comment by: Rachel
12 08/4/07 9:45 AM | Comment Link |For an excellent book on the subject of politics and poverty, I highly recommend Changing the Face of Hunger by Tony Hall. The subtitle is One Man’s Story of How Liberals, Conservatives, Democrats, Republicans, and People of Faith Are Joining Forces to Help the Hungry, the Poor, the Oppressed. Tony Hall is a former Democratic congressman and US Ambassador to the United Nations Agency for Food and Agriculture. He has traveled all over the world and his book is very pragmatic and realistic and also hopeful and inspiring.
It is so easy for us as activist types to become disillusioned and discouraged. But there are many success stories to be celebrated. Faith-based political movements have had a powerful impact on people’s lives, whether it be the abolition movement, women’s suffrage, child labor reform, the civil rights movement or the anti-poverty movement today.
Comment by: Rachel
13 08/4/07 9:46 AM | Comment Link |Like Bobby Kennedy’s famous visits to desperately poor homes in the rural South.
Comment by: Rachel
14 08/4/07 10:08 AM | Comment Link |BTW, in regards to the ONE Campaign…I have lots of ONE Campaign wrist bands. If anyone wants one, I will be happy to send one to you. Just post a comment that you want a wrist band and then I will email you off the board and get your mailing address. The wrist bands come in small (2.25 in/5.72 cm) and large (2.5 in/6.35 cm) sizes and they are very sturdy. I have been wearing mine full time for two years and it is still in good condition.
A lot of people ask me what it is for and I get a chance to tell them about the ONE Campaign. And I’ve given out some wrist bands to random people I meet who ask for one. Virtually everybody seems to respond positively to this campaign and we need to work even harder to get the message out with the election coming next year.
Comment by: David H
15 08/4/07 9:25 PM | Comment Link |I would love a wrist band.
As for politics and poverty, I oftentimes feels that waiting for politicians to do something useful on the poverty front is like parents waiting up on Christmas eve for Santa to come. Santa is a myth. He will never come. The longer the wait to do something, the less likely anything will be done.
The best we can hope for from politicians is that they may amble along in sort of the right direction if people — Christians, non-Christians, Bono, some schmo — blaze a really clear trail for them.
Let’s face it, politics — at least in the US — is about power and money. The poor have little of either, so many politicians have little use for them except maybe right around election day.
Comment by: Martin Gugino
16 08/6/07 7:55 PM | Comment Link |Also easy for me.
And I would love a wrist band, too.
How wrong do you think it would be for me to make my own “ONE” shirt? I can send them money if need be.
Comment by: Rachel
17 08/7/07 1:36 PM | Comment Link |Martin, I’m sure it would be fine for you to make a ONE Campaign shirt. I think all they really care about is promoting the campaign and bringing more people on board.
Or you can order T-shirts from the ONE store. My husband and I each have one - just the regular t-shirts, not the fancy “designer” shirts. And I also have a fabulous “Make Poverty History” shirt from Australia that was given to me by the lovely and talented Megan.
Comment by: Elaine
18 08/8/07 1:20 PM | Comment Link |My experience tells me that making it a “campaign” issue will NOT really change anything. (remember health insurance and social secruity reform?)
I, SO, agree with this. We have been trained to think we have to wait on our “leaders” to fix things. Peter Block says we have abdicated our power to them. Instead of complaining and waiting for the mayor/governor/president, I need to ask myself what is my part in creating a different future?
Martin Luther King, Jr. - didn’t wait for it to become a campaign issue - he marched and then it became a campaign issue.
There are so many examples of citizens engaging in their community to make it better AND then it becomes of interest to the politicians. The One Campaign is one way to come alongside those who are already making a difference.
Who can you partner with?