The Raging Liberal
Tugrul Keskin
In 1962, Edward Michael Harrington, an intellectual and activist, wrote an astonishing book, The Other America: Poverty in the US and his findings in this book shaped the views of American President Lyndon Johnson on poverty. On January 8, 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson declared a War on Poverty in his State of the Union address. Johnson knew that the War on Poverty was the one of the key elements in the fight against radicalism and extremism, therefore, he made it very clear that the war was unconditional. Between 1964 and 1968, America attempted to eliminate poverty and used economic and political tactics and strategies to gain the support of the people and to rescue them from the most extreme poverty. However, these socio-economic and political strategies have not continued after he left the Presidency and ultimately the war on poverty has failed in urban and rural America, because another war mongering President came to the power in the White House; Richard Nixon. Unfortunately, today is not different than the past.
According to the Census Bureau report entitled, “Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2003,” the percentage of Americans who live below the poverty level is 12.5% and the socio-economic gap between races and ethnic groups is stronger than ever. In the same report, there was a significant relationship shown between people’s ethnic origin and poverty levels. In 2002, the percentage of people who lived below the poverty level was 12.1%, but the poverty level for the total population in the US increased to 12.5% soon afterwards, in 2003. In the same Census Bureau report, it was recorded that 13.2 million people of Hispanic origin and 7.3 million African-Americans were living without health insurance. In total, 44.9 million people did not have health insurance in the US in 2003.
Poverty in the World may have different ways that it shows itself and more challenges to come. For instance, according to Global Policy Forum, Most African nations suffer from military dictatorships, corruption, civil unrest and war, underdevelopment and deep poverty. The UN Development Program report 2005 indicates that 34.8 million children will die in the next ten years and the same report also shows that poverty and inequality all over the world is a trend that has increased. The inequality level in Brazil is 59.3%, in Namibia it is 70.7%, Egypt 34.4%. In Pakistan, only 38% of all children will complete their primary education, because of poverty and the socio-economic depression.
Poverty is the cause of many of the social and political challenges that we face today. The social and political consequences are related with the economic gap that exists both between nations and within American society. The essence of the elimination of poverty from the socio-economic sphere is a key factor to shortening the gap between the rich and poor. However, as long as there is a wide gap between the upper and working classes, the Capitalist economy and America will continue to face ever-more challenges and crisis. As a result of poverty and the continuation of Colonialism because the power of trans-national corporations by the powerful West, developing nations will face new challenges such as religious fundamentalism; because the people and political stakeholders have nothing to lose but their identity.
Today, we have a different president and a different war than the one undertaken by President Johnson’s under his broad perspective. President Bush believes the war on terror will eliminate or at least minimize radicalism and this will prevent future attacks on America. It is absolutely wrong. As long as there is a gap between the rich and poor, and the socio-economic gap continues to exist between nations and within nations, and the idea of colonialization continues, unfortunately terrorism will survive; therefore, we must understand that terrorism is another ugly face and a further reflection of poverty.
