What is poverty?

Poverty level highest since 1960s

To solve poverty, raise the minimum wage

Americans are too poor to have babies

Poverty and what constitutes it is going to be a debate this election cycle and you know what? Except for probably some really rare cases in some very small pockets, real poverty doesn’t exist in America.

Gasp! Horrors! What is he saying? Are there no people going hungry or without every day in America? How can he say such blasphemy?

Well, folks, you see, poverty is relative. And I contend that except in some really rare cases that real poverty – like homes without facilities and utilities, people actually living on the streets with nowhere to go – basically does not exist in the U.S., not like it does say in other countries, even “developed” countries.

Oh, yes, we have our poor, our homeless, those who don’t have as much as maybe the “mainstream” individual has, but we really don’t have masses of refugees, unless you want to count the stream of illegal immigrants crossing our southern border. We don’t have masses of people starving; not just hungry but starving. We really don’t have masses of people living in totally unsanitary conditions. Yes, you can find isolated examples of this, but it is not like it was when I was a kid and before.

How many houses do you find today with an outdoor privy? Well, there might be some, but I think if you did your research you would find that the number of people who do without indoor plumping is very small.

How many people are without electricity? Again, the number is very, very small and oftentimes it is by choice – they live where it is very, very difficult and expensive to extend electrical service in.

In the United States, the “poor” - as defined by the U.S. government - typically have clothes, a place to stay or access to one, indoor plumbing, at least one television set, probably a cellular phone, usually a mode of transportation like a car worth at least, if not more, than half the poverty line, food, access to more food, access to health care. If you go elsewhere, at least in my experience, you will find that often is not the case.

Americans are privileged. We don’t want to admit that, but we are. So privileged, that we take it for granted and some of us think we are so wealthy that we can give this privilege to everyone. That is the problem. We really aren’t that wealthy. No one is and no one could ever be.

Gasp! Why do I say that? Because the definition of what it is to be “poor” keeps getting revised upwards. Don’t have enough poor? Revisit the definition.

In the process, you can extend the elite’s control over some of the people by making them dependent on government largess. I am not ranting like some person who says to hell with the poor. It just is not the government’s role, per se, to do things like that.

Alexander De Tocqueville, more than 175 years ago made an interesting observation about American culture – a culture that unfortunately has been made obsolete by the unsustainable entitlement society that we have today. He noticed that Americans had this wonderful way of coming up with civic – that is private – solutions to age-old problems. Americans, he noticed, did not seem to expect that government was the source of all the things necessary in life.

De Tocqueville was right, it isn’t, but that is not what a lot of people in this country will tell you.

Don’t have enough money from your job? Raise the minimum wage. That, I contend is the biggest load of fecal material ever sold the American public. I spent far too much of my life living barely above the minimum wage level. I have seen far too many people thrown back to the bottom of the pile by raises in the minimum wage. You train, you work, you get experience … and then wham, you are shoved back to the bottom by those who think those just entering the work force should get more. Of course, I suppose, we could let government set all the pay scales in this country, but what gives “government” that privilege? Besides, who or what is the government?

Despite what I did or did not get paid during my years of work, I was somewhat proud of the fact that I did indeed “own” my own labor and I could, if I wanted, sell it elsewhere (why do you think I have lived in 12 different states?) and possibly get more money for my skills and talents.

Unfortunately, as far as I can tell, it is the progressives – those people who believe they are enlightened enough to tell the ones who are not enlightened in the same manner how to live and that they need the government to help them – are the ones, in my estimation who are mounting a full-scale attack on the individual and individual rights. In their estimation, I suppose, people are not smart enough, or educated enough, or capable enough, to take care of themselves.

Well, I disagree.

If people are not having babies, then it is not the government’s role to subsidize them into having babies. It just doesn’t make any sense to me, but, alas, I am among those who are unenlightened.

You may think I am arrogant (and maybe I am) but I firmly believe in the individual; in the individual’s rights and responsibilities (as those go hand in hand). All individuals have the right to life and dignity. That right is denied them when their decisions are taken over by anyone else.

Remember, life is tough. Life isn’t fair. It never has been and it never will be. It is a journey that we all take, essentially, by ourselves, hopefully with  comrades and companions and helpmates along the way. But it still is our journey and not someone else’s.

Poverty? Only the individual can define what poverty means to themselves.