Edwards is an easy choice for me. He is the only candidate who consistently speaks out about poverty, the only one willing to take a stand. Glennia recently wrote an excellent piece about why poverty should matter and in it, mentions that Edwards is regularly criticized for being rich and talking about the poor.
See, this is where I want to lose my mind. Because if the rich aren't talking about it, who will? After a decade of working with homeless men, women and children, one of the issues that I consistently face is how to make poverty and homelessness tangible for those who have never experienced it.
Other causes are easier: Illnesses cross socioeconomic lines. Anyone can adopt an abused animal. We all live on the same planet and are collectively watching it degrade. But rarely do rich people know poor people. How many times have you heard "I have a friend/sister/mother/aunt with breast cancer"? Sadly, probably many more times than we should. But the thing is, we KNOW people who get cancer. And that personal connectedness makes the issue more real to us. And how often do we hear "I have a friend/family member who's homeless"? Certainly, it can be a cause that may touch someone we know, but most often it's in relation to drugs or alcohol. But how often do you simply know people that are poor? That are unhoused? That live without enough food or electricity or running water? Whose children go to bed hungry?
And that's what makes this cause so hard to address - the people who can do something about it struggle to relate to it because it doesn't have a face, a name, a person you know. Because there is shame in poverty. Because being poor is really hard and really time consuming. Because poor people live in different places than not so poor people do.
You don't have to be poor to talk about poverty. You simply need to care. Homelessness and poverty needs all the humanizing, compassion, and education it can get. I've had the opportunity to know thousands of homeless and impoverished men, women, and children and they have been some of the most honorable, smart, genuine, loyal, and generous people I've ever met in my life. I have learned from, laughed with, cried with, and loved people that most would walk around on the street. They are beautiful, they are real, and they matter. And the kids...don't even get me started on the majesty of the kids.
We don't have to be poor to talk about poverty. We just need to care. We need to decide it is socially unacceptable to allow children to sleep in uninhabitable places or go to bed hungry. Edwards knows this, and this is why he's the best choice for me.
Jen waxes on about homelessness regularly at her other gig too. She is also very excited to be a part of the MOMocrats group.
oh my GOD, Jen. this post is brilliant.
thank you for writing it.
Posted by: lildb | October 10, 2007 at 10:50 PM
It irks me that people forget, refuse to acknowledge, whatever, that John Edwards wasn't born rich. Wasn't his dad a farmer? Hello! I don't know very many rich farmers here in NC. My great-grandfather certainly wasn't. JE went to law school and made his own fortune. So while he isn't poor this very second, he probably knew a lot of folks that were/are, especially from his childhood.
Posted by: K&M | October 11, 2007 at 01:03 AM
John's father was a millworker, and he had to borrow $50 from someone to pay the hospital when John was born so they could take him home. He was the first person in his family to attend college.
Posted by: Glennia | October 11, 2007 at 08:59 AM
John Edwards' statements and actions addressing poverty are a central reason to vote for him. I also think that they bespeak a larger, underlying difference in the policies proposed by John Edwards. He is asking us to nurture our communities and our country rather than tempting us to divisiveness, cynicism and neglect. As a Mom, this is what has motivated me to support Edwards. And I understand what Elizabeth Edwards means when she says he supports women's issues more than H. Clinton. He does. I'm sure a right wing fanatic could jump all over that statement. But what is the matter with people who can't comprehend the need to care for each other? Cooperation and mutual help are at least as important in a successful society as competition. I think women and mothers are in a good position to give voice to these issues.
Posted by: Lane | October 11, 2007 at 05:14 PM
You've hit the nail on the head, Jen! I'd never thought about poverty in quite this way, but it makes sense. People don't "relate" to poverty. At least not in the way that could make positive changes. And so it's not their problem. But as residents of this world, it's a problem that we should all own. Edwards is really the only one brave enough to address it even though it's not a politically popular issue. That makes me admire him all the more.
Posted by: LawyerMama | October 12, 2007 at 01:11 PM