Just as the federal government gets a recruiting effort underway to convince low-income, elderly Americans to enroll in the new Medicare prescription drug benefit program, we receive a news flash from the Bush administration. You know, the "compassionate conservative" crowd.
The news is simple, harsh and, in many cases, downright cruel.
Seniors who sign up for the drug program will likely see their Food Stamps cut back.
Rationale: since these older Americans will spend less of their limited funds on medication, they will have more to spend on food and will not need the same level of support as before on grocery store purchases.
Does anyone in Washington understand poverty, even a little bit?
Does anyone know what life is like for low-income grandparents? How about widows and widowers whose income is just above, at or below the poverty level?
I think not.
Fact: elderly Americans--millions of them--choose each week whether to purchase food or medication.
Fact: an increased prescription drug benefit will not lessen the need for funds to buy food among this part of our population. The help with their meds will actually allow them to buy enough food to survive on, in some cases for the first time in years. If they realize a gain in net, basic benefit, is that really a bad thing? In this case value, health and hope is being added to lives!
Fact: more and more inner city residents who use our services here at Central Dallas Ministries are elderly. On the days we offer our monthly programs designed for this part of the community, our center is jammed packed with retired and aging Dallasites.
Come on, Mr. President. You can do better than this. I can promise you one thing for certain. The guy you are always claiming to follow as "Savior and Lord" understood compassion much differently than you do. As a matter of fact, he was never conservative with it. Not once.
After all, how many houses, cars, yachts, vacation escapes and dividends do the people at the top of our economy. . .you know, the ones made rich by the labor of some of these same elderly people. . .how much more do they really need?
James 1:27
14 comments:
It's a shame how often this comes in handy...
"Although it is not true that all conservatives are stupid, it is true that most stupid people are conservative." -- John Stuart Mill
ibreakcellphones, I always appreciate hearing from you. However, your post here is based on two mistakes. 1) You fail to realize that Jesus did not enjoy a political system that was built on the values that he himself espoused. We have much different opportunities today, given the freedom we enjoy, to craft a just state based on humanitarian principles. The Romans didn't seem to be much into that--though Jesus told his followers to pay taxes even at that. It would be helpful to recall the commands of the law of Moses that did mandate the redistribution of wealth for the benefit of the poor as a part of Israel's political structure. Capitalism is inherently evil and ruthless unless soften by the values of faith and the spirit.
2) You assume that the money in my pocket is mine. This is an even more fundamental error. I am a steward, not an owner. Oh, and by the way, Jesus had no money.
I think it's hard for modern minds to remember that Jesus and his disciples were more socialists than capitalists . . . many of us have the fake assumption that we have earned what we have by "pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps." This perpetuation of the American Myth is a wonderful justification for not redistributing wealth, but it does not follow the law of Moses or the commands of Christ.
The Compassion of Christ is not a request: it is an order. This goes beyond tithing. This gets to the heart of the Gospel -- that Christ is in all of us, but he is most present in those with the least.
Serve in a pantry. Rebuild a derelict house. Read to children who have no parents waiting for them after school. You will find that Christ is with you.
Larry James comes out swinging. Man that was good.
Your posts carry with them a seriously needed reorienting for the middle and upper class - for me.
Thanks.
Forcing an individual, by threat of force, to do certain things thwarts the whole point of Christianity. God could have made us all robots to comply with his will but he did not because he wanted us to choose to do so. This whole notion of taking peoples money by threat force and claiming that it meets Jesus' call to help the poor is nonsense.
We have the incredible opportunity to craft the sort of community life and connection that we want in this nation. The Civil Rights legislation of the 1960s, the abolition of slavery in the 1860s, the notion of a national obligation to care for the weak of the 1930s-1970s are living proof that the collective will of the people can in fact create a civil society. In the same manner that collective will can create a system that oppresses people. To oppress the poor via laws, loopholes and the institutionalization of unfair advantage for one group at the expense of another is immoral, just as is an act such as murder. We have laws that "force people" to act in certain ways about any number of issues. It is far from nonsense to mandate fairness and a quest for equality. I think I remember that the nation got started for just this reason. How do we miss the incredible potential of the freedoms we enjoy to go the right thing?
As to seniors losing part of their food benefit, don't be fooled into thinking that it won't happen. I am simply reporting what the current administration is already reporting. The Secretary of Health and Human Services, Michael Leavitt is the one who reported this. If it doesn't happen, it will only be because good and responsible people, acting in accord with their democratic rights, put pressure on the administration to change its mind.
I have met President Bush. He spoke at our annual prayer breakfast back when he was the Governor of Texas. I would love to visit with him about the issues of not only compassion, but also of justice as defined in the texts of our faith.
Interesting how much input there is when you start making recommendations to increase taxes...
Regarding the comment about it being nonsense to "force" (i.e. tax) people to pay for support of the poor: what sense is there in allowing the poor to suffer while the rich get richer? would Christ advocate such a policy?
Being a Christian is about more than drinking wine on Sunday morning.
How odd. I've been having a nearly identical discussion on my blog.
Two questions:
Larry: elderly Americans--millions of them--choose each week whether to purchase food or medication.
Larry, would you please document this for us? It seems possible, but I'd like to have a reference.
Cellphones: I’ve been incredibly blessed by having a financially secure family to start from. I was even born at a fortunate time in that I could get a full scholarship when I was 18 and graduated from high school.
Great for you. What about the people who don't have those advantages? Or more pointedly, what if you had been born without those advantages? What kind of an economic system would you want to live in?
The problem with free-market capitalism isn't monopoly. The problem with free-market capitalism is that it oppresses the poor. It excludes people who aren't born with the capital, upbringing, social connections, and family ties that they need to compete.
Matthew, I am not sure I can point you to a published source, though you might check with the Center for Public Policy Priorities in Austin, Texas, AARP or even the Children's Defense Fund. What I am basing my statement on is my experience here in Dallas. Last year we "enjoyed" over 50,000 human encounters with over 25,000 different people. A large percentage were elderly folks who are poor. We have heard them telling us how they often choose between food and medicines. Sometimes they cut doses in half to save. It just seems insane for me to hear the government deciding to cut food stamps from these impoverished people.
Ibreakcellphones is a determinied Libertarian (capital L). So, I expect he is against all government assistance programs on principle. I wish that the world could work the way he wants it to. Frankly, I have learned the hard way across the years in church that if you wait for the "people of God" to decide to do the right thing, you will just be disappointed and the poor will suffer more. Besides that, there is no way the church on its own can handle the scale of the problems.
Cellphones: Thank you for the reference to Jesus People USA. They look like a very interesting group. I am thankful for their reminder of Christ's command for the rich to give of their wealth: "He who has two coats let him share with him who has none." (Luke 3:11)."
Thank you for challenging the idea of doing this through force (i.e. tax). Though I disagree with your conclusion, I appreciate the respectful, thoughtful approach of your argument. I look forward to reading your future posts.
Also, there is a Dallas group that is similar to Jesus People USA in some respects. As they state, they "sponsor several nondenominational home church groups with the goal of recapturing the first century Christian experience."
In case you are interested:
http://www.trinityfi.org/
I am still learning about them, but I have met a few of their members and I am very impressed by their devotion to truly living out their faith.
I just wanted to express my appreciation for Larry and the fact that what he says comes from a heart that cares for the helpless, not from a position of self-centeredness. Thank you for letting your politics flow from your faith instead of interpretting the biblical call to raise up the oppressed in light of your political views.
That was very well put, Neal. All things should flow from love of God -- how frequently we get it backwards!
"I want to be rich, therefore I will support a political stance that helps people like me to be rich, therefore I will join a church that makes me feel OK about this pursuit . . . "
I am so thankful to you, Larry and others for the challenge to reverse this mentality in my life.
to: ibreakcellphones
God forbid you should ever have your job outsourced, and loose everything you have. I used to have a job with a living wage, that was three and a half years ago. It has been a constant struggle since then. Unlike you, I came from a working class background. I never had the opportunities that you say you had. I had a heart attack after I lost my job, and had to have a double bypass. Thank God that I had the VA or I would probably be dead right now. I am still struggling, trying to reeducate myself, so that I might be able to once again make a living wage. I am 51 years old, and sometimes I feel like I am seventy. My wife and I have no money or food in the house, and my paycheck next Friday will be entirely consumed by my rent. When people work, they should at least be able to make ends meet on what they get paid, and people should not have their lives destroyed by greedy multinationals that want to save a few bucks by sending their jobs overseas.
I spent 9 years in the military, I have always supported our country, but I don't think that these Republicans care about me or people like me. Everything they have done in the last 4 1/2 years has been to the detriment of working class people, and the poor.
My mother was one of those poor old people, she got by on social security. I still don't see how she did it, God rest her soul. I guess it must have been from her experience during the depression when her mother had to take her to an orphanage because they had no money.
There is something wrong when the richest country in the world has the highest poverty rate of any of the industrialized countries.
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