Out of the money: Whatever happened to the War on Poverty? . . .

[OneBlueSky]

from today's edition of my local paper . . .

Poverty slips from voters' minds in suburban New York
http://www.thejournalnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050913/NEWS02/509130355/1017

(snip)

In the minds of many who work with the poor in Westchester, Putnam and Rockland counties, the war on poverty has lost its sense of urgency. Even as Americans grow more concerned about moral values, some say not enough attention is being paid to deeply entrenched pockets of poverty in this country and around the world.

(snip)

In an exit poll after the last presidential election, more than a quarter of voters said moral values were important and played a key role in their choice. Yet just 2 percent of those respondents mentioned economic equality, helping the poor and health care when asked what they considered moral values. More than a quarter chose gay marriage and abortion and 17 percent cited a general decline in morality, the way people live their lives and other "traditional values."

(snip)

Richardson of Grace Baptist Church said the loudest voices in the moral-values debate, the Catholic Church among them, seem to focus almost exclusively on personal morality, chiefly issues involving sex. Set aside, he said, is the issue of society's collective responsibility regarding education and health care.

"There is no question that in modern politics we have allowed morality to be too personal and not collective," Richardson said. "We suffer in this country from an obsession of personal morality but not our collective morality as a nation. (A lack of) personal morality can do damage but so can ignoring the poor amongst us."

- more . . .

http://www.thejournalnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050913/NEWS02/509130355/1017

[TallahasseeGrannie]

1. If memory serves

Nixon happened to the War on Poverty. The W on P was a LBJ slogan. We are a nation of slogans. Too bad we don't see them through.

[JHB]

2. "White Flight"

In any but the poorest 'burbs, poverty isn't something you run into every day, so dealing with it lacks a certain urgency.

[SteppingRazor]

3. Whatever happened to it? Reagan, Bush I, and finally Clinton...

Reagan started killing our care for the poor with his tales of "Welfare Queens" dricing Cadillacs around the projects. The 12 years of Reagan-Bush were a constant war on the social safety net.
When Clinton passed "welfare reform," a sadly regressive piece of legislation for a normally progressive man, it was the nail in the coffin.
We've got the ownership society under Bush II now. Fuck the poor. They're on their own.

[obreaslan]

4. We are fighting the Poor over there....

So we don't have to feed them over here.

:sarcasm:

[RepublicanElephant]

5. it's now...

...the "struggle on poverty", per dubya.