By: Bruce Cline

Bruce Cline
Mon, 13 Jan 2014 18:37:13 +0000

Jennifer –
While I understand and largely agree that “little has changed” with respect to the incidence of poverty in America, it is worth remembering that the plight of the poor is in many (but not all) instances dramatically different and improved. For perspective, I heartily recommend reading Robert Caro’s Years of Lyndon Johnson–four volumes at this point. His description of the backbreaking lot of the poor in the hill country of Texas, and especially that of women, is staggeringly and stunningly depressing. Reading about the constant lugging of water from wells (or riverside), working without electricity and all the convenience it brings, the before-dawn to nighttime chores, the lack of mechanization, and a lot more really brought home to me the burdens of poverty in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. I DO NOT DISPUTE your assertion that the struggle continues and (implicitly) needs to be a high priority. However, it’s worth noting that the War on Poverty did have huge successes, that millions of American’s lives were markedly improved, and that the expenditures from the public treasury were worth every penny (but not nearly enough).

My caution is that if we overlook or deny the monumental successes of the war LBJ started, we allow naysayers to denigrate the effort and stall or halt additional efforts to ameliorate and obliterate the causes of poverty in the modern age.

With respect, Bruce Cline, AmeriCorps VISTA member