“The test of our progress is
not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether
we provide enough for those who have too little.” — Franklin D. Roosevelt, 32nd
president of the United States
We enjoy living
in a time of unprecedented prosperity. There is not a lack of resources in our
land. Despite this time of abundance, we’re choosing to let some of our fellow
citizens, friends and neighbors, go hungry. There is no requirement for this.
There is not a lack of food. We have just chosen to be churlish and selfish. Oh,
we may dress it up in some sort of budgetary crisis; but, that is only a fig
leaf to cover our meanness of spirit.
Some
say that the S.N.A.P. program is rife with corruption. This is not true.
Through years of careful planning and experience, we have reduced the amount of
fraud to almost nothing. Others claim that we cannot afford to feed the hungry.
Again, I find this hard to believe. After all, we can afford extraordinary funding
for ICE, growth in the defense budget, and providing extravagant tax breaks to
the wealthy and large corporations. In fact, with little public visibility, the
IRS is administratively reducing the tax burden on the most wealthy and
profitable corporations in our land.1 I find this level of
callousness astounding, especially when supported by my fellow Christians.
Some
will misappropriate the passage from II Thessalonians 3:10-15 which contains
this little chestnut, “If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat.” This
ignores the context, a group of Christians who, believing the Lord’s return was
immanent, gathered on the hills outside the city expecting their fellow
believers to feed them. It is neither directed at the poor in general nor does
it blot out the mass of scripture which enjoins generosity to those less
well-off. For those of us who claim to
be followers of Jesus, to so easily support policies that crush the poor reeks
of the very thing that angered the Lord, see Proverbs 22. But for even the
non-believer these actions raise serious concerns.
A
strong nation, a good nation, takes care to help all of its citizenry. We
cannot turn away from the poor, mumbling such platitudes as, “Their own poor
decisions brought them to this state.” It may very well be true that they made
poor decisions along the way; but, which of us have not made poor decisions?
Some of us are just fortunate enough to have recovered, and most often it is
due to our family or someone else helping us not our own strength, pluck, or
ability. Now that we enjoy success to turn our backs on our fellow citizens in
their time of need is callous in the extreme. For a nation as well off as the
U.S. to casually let the poor go hungry, says something very dark about our culture
and moral state.
It shows our lack of concern regarding our fellow humans. It says that we do not care about the poor. It also says that if you are poor or of a different color, then you do not rate our compassion. Speaking of compassion, our attitude toward the poor loudly proclaims our lack of compassion. It also shows how selfish we are. We’d rather turn our backs towards those who have very little in order to keep a few measly dollars in our bank accounts. It says that we are a judgmental and prejudiced society, especially towards those who are less well off. Interestingly it also reveals that we love the rich more than the poor, since we eagerly give the rich and large businesses significant tax breaks while doing almost nothing to help those who find themselves struggling financially. Finally, it calls into question our status as a civilized nation. How can we lay claim to the status of being a civilized nation when we gladly, even eagerly, let our own citizens go hungry?
1. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/08/business/trump-administration-tax-breaks-wealthy.html
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