Greg Kaufmann | The Nation

Sunday Washington Post: Spinning Myths About the Poor

James Q. Wilson’s January 29 op-ed in the Washington Post­­­­—“Angry about inequality? Don’t blame the rich”—is oh so polite, and oh so offensive, as it peddles myth after myth that essentially add up to this: the poor have no one but themselves to blame, they’re not that poor anyway, and taxing rich people won’t help them.

Wilson argues that for the poor to rise we must “encourage parental marriage” and “induce them to join the legitimate workforce.” He points out that the poor have things like plumbing and heat, “a telephone, a television set, and a clothes dryer,” and there are fewer malnourished children. He says improving low-income mobility “has nothing to do with taxing the rich” and “the problem facing the poor is not too little money.”

This week, at a forum on poverty and the 2012 election, Republican pollster Jim McLaughlin said 88 percent of voters view a candidate’s position on equal opportunity for children of all races as important in deciding their vote for president. Washington Post columnist Michael Gerson commented that it was “most encouraging” that “Americans of every ideological background believe in opportunity for children. It’s a common ground commitment.”

I wish I shared his confidence. I think if that commitment were truly a strong one, we would be doing much more to help the 22 percent of American children and their families—disproportionately people of color—get out of poverty.

Yet too many politicians and citizens still seize on President Reagan’s old line—“We fought a war against poverty, and poverty won”—as a reason not to make substantial investments in children and families. The data, however, suggest that this take on anti-poverty legislation is a myth.

Nation readers know the record-setting levels of poverty in America today: nearly one in six citizens below the official poverty line of $22,300 for a family of four, including one of five kids. African-American and Hispanic children are even worse off, with poverty rates of 40 percent and 37 percent, respectively. More than one in three Americans are struggling on incomes below twice the poverty threshold—roughly $45,000 for a family of four.

In 2011, The Nation kept the plight of the poor and near-poor front and center.

When Congress debated budget cuts in the abstract, The Nation showed their real human costs; when Representatives voted against the interests of their districts, The Nation held them accountable; and when decimated state and local budgets hit poor people with a vengeance, The Nation told their stories. Finally, if you didn’t catch the year-end Occupy the Safety Net issue, check it out, you will get a clear picture of the state of the welfare system—food stamps, housing, TANF and more—it sure ain’t the hammock Congressman Paul Ryan says it is.

On this Election Day, when Democrats stand to suffer at the polls, and fewer voters have registered than in previous midterm elections, it seems sadly ironic that ACORN has declared bankruptcy.

This is the final chapter in the long and winding rightwing witch hunt against an organization that stood for poor and working people on issue after issue. As Bill Moyers described the community-based group: “More than any group I’ve covered over my long career in journalism, ACORN was devoted to helping poor people become their own best champions.”

Yet despite ACORN’s mission and history, when the rightwing echo chamber targeted it for destruction too few Congressional Democrats stood in the way. Fox played “shocking” videos of a “sting operation” against ACORN ad nauseam, and rather than questioning the source and content, too many Democrats failed to do due diligence and instead acted cravenly in passing unconstitutional legislation to defund the group.