Blame the rich not the poor for economic woes
Mr. Nicholson’s recent column headlined, “Liberal policies doom the poor to dependency,” uses a scripture passage to establish context and justification for a Republican stump speech attacking Democrats/liberals.
Mr. Nicholson, as Ronald Reagan would say: “There you go again.” Different premises, recurrent theme, same blame conclusion. Has the writer no room for deeper causal inquiry beyond “liberals?” Shallow “politics trumps reason” stances obstruct problem solving.
Opposition to government policy, except through established processes for redress, is contra Romans 13: 1 “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities; for there is no authority except from God, and those authorities that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists authority resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgement.” So much for “sola scriptura” in politics!
His John 12:8 Jesus quote “For the poor always ye have with you; … always,” in context of his writing seems to discount importance of certain (particularly self-induced) poor according to his categories of innocent poor versus lazy shiftless, self-induced poor (Jesus’ didn’t differentiate for love). My take on that particular passage is it’s “Book of Life” implication for our soul based on attitudes/treatment of the poor in this life (not, oh well they’ll always be hanging around). With absolutist wisdom, the writer attributes self-induced poor to liberal tax/spend policies. I agree with a majority of the writer’s category premises of the poor. I have qualified agreement with portions of causal claims about dependency of some. Problem: the writer has no accounting of extent by which a Republican unregulated capitalist corporatocracy model is causal to self-inducement. Basic needs of mankind include dignity and living wage to support family (Maslow’s hierarchy of needs?) Ergo, when spirit, hope, and will of workers after being exploited, fired for profit, having pensions, savings, and dignity stolen, and marginalized are broken, they take easy routes.
When social programs pay more than jobs from billionaire CEOs who pay “subsistence” wages, they choose the former. The writer’s implied “bootstrap pulling” discounts all human support influences (parents, teachers, friends, etc) from birth to success and, by the way marginalizes the need for God’s role and blessings. Just do it? Yourself?
Not mentioned: scripture abounds against irresponsible excessive wealth, but apparently are not on Mr. Nicholson’s radar such as they are on Pope Francis’ heart. The writer seems so bitter to the point of excoriating self-induced poor (Jesus wouldn’t) for taking freebies that blindness to trillions of corporate welfare, and trillions of stashed corporate liquid cash acquired on promises of jobs that would give a “living wage” but are lies, is incidental.
Living wages and reasonable work hours which were gained by unions (of which the writer’s generation benefit but forget) raised the standard of living for all. Such gains were destroyed by corporations while exploiting foreign labor. That boardroom exploitation model has come home to roost and it is causal to hopelessness.
Can Mr. Nicholson support his family at it current lifestyle on the minimum wage? Jesus might have trouble affording two fish and five loaves in today’s supply-side price gouging, trickle down crumbs, economy a la Luke, “longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table.” It’s a given there will always be exploiters of systems. Many oppressive exploiters are in boardrooms. Income disparity ratio, executives to workers, far exceeds 800 to 1. A 2013 minimum wage (far from “living” wage) employee had to work 1,372 hours to earn what CEO Michael Duke of Walmart earned in a single hour. A single $10 million bonus equates to the wages of 500 employees making $20,000 a year. Do the math totals for all executives. Jobs and wages of poor are the sacrificial lamb (pun intended) of greed for profit.
Fact: America is now an economic corporate cash cow in a global economy. Workers are milked till dry, then off to the slaughterhouse for meat/bones. It’s how corporate trillions get parked while accounting claims losses of profit. The “job creators” myth is brainwashing. “Job terminators” for profits are real.
Finally, Acts 2:44-45 describes first acts by new Christians: “And all those who had believed were together and had all things in common; and they began selling their property and possessions and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need.” Another “sola scriptura” is crushed in right-wing capitalist America. Caring for innocent poor is called compassion. The real “challenge” for genuine Christians is avoiding excoriation and dehumanization of those the writer labels self-induced poor. Empathizing individual circumstances, finding better solutions with resources available, to lift last hopes beyond winning a lottery is also a difficult challenge, but it is what genuine Christians try to do. Decent paying jobs, not subsistence wages, goes a long way to restoring dignity, ambition and hope.
Francis Lilly is a resident of Finleyville.