The immorality of poverty
I saw an amazing thing tonight watching the Democratic convention. I saw a candidate for national office talk forthrightly about poverty in a way I don’t think I’ve ever seen. The last time a Democratic candidate for nationwide office talked about ending poverty may very well have been Lyndon Johnson in 1964 or Bobby Kennedy in 1968. Whenever it was, it was surely before I was aware of politics. I was so impressed that John Edwards talked about poverty and called it by name, rather than saying something like "the middle class and those who aspire to it". Even more impressive was the reason he gave for fighting to end poverty. We must end poverty because it’s wrong. It’s wrong for a country as rich as America to allow children to go to bed hungry. It’s wrong for people to play by the rules and work hard and still not make a living wage. It’s just wrong.
Those are family values I can stand behind.
It may not have been the finest speech John Edwards has given. He seemed more at ease when I saw him give his stump speech on C-SPAN in New Hampshire. But the fact that he talked about poverty and called it by name and invoked morality thrilled me.
Posted at 11:40 PM