“As President Johnson said to Congress, ‘There are millions of Americans[ ...] who have not shared in the abundance which has been granted to most of us.’ [...] The question is: What are we going to do about it? The answer to this question goes deeper than any specific program, goes beyond partisanship, goes to the heart of our national life and purpose.”
Our Quote of the Week feels appropriate as we make our way through the holiday season. During a period that can be marked by excesses, may we pause to consider what we can do as individuals and as a collective to ensure that everyone can benefit from the abundance around us.
In April of 1964, Sargent Shriver addressed a group in Arkansas and spoke of the “great decisions” of Congress, past and present. The decision he is focused on in the speech, however, is:
“Will we undertake wholeheartedly the war against poverty that President Johnson has proposed?”
He then speaks of the debilitating effects of poverty on those struggling with it and on society as a whole, and in this context, he asks his audience, what “we” are going to do about it.
Shriver sees poverty as any other challenge that society can face and overcome. He says:
“Fifty years ago we did not know how to eliminate typhoid fever, scarlet fever, whooping cough, diphtheria or paralytic polio. But we found out. Twenty-five years ago, we didn’t know haw to harness atomic energy, but we found out. Today we do not yet know how to go the moon, but we are going to get there. And we may not yet know exactly how to go about ending poverty and abolishing war, but we can do it.”
Sargent Shriver’s words remind us that our collective ingenuity and resources have made it possible for us to rise to a variety of major challenges. In the case of poverty and opportunity, we know all too well that policy decisions make a difference in the economic well-being of a society, particularly of its most vulnerable members. A recent example of the difference policies can make is with the dramatic rise of poverty rates after the expiration of COVID-era relief in 2022. It’s important to remember, though, that we are not disconnected from the political decision-making that can allow more of our citizens to prosper. This article by our friends at the Shriver Center on Poverty Law shows how having a thriving middle class who is politically engaged and committed to solidarity across generational, racial, and class boundaries can make a positive difference in the relative prosperity of the society as a whole.
As the holiday season unfolds and we prepare for the new year, let us take some time to recommit not just to our loved ones, but to our larger community, and particularly to those who, through no fault of their own, have no access to the abundance that we take for granted.
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