January 1964 President Lyndon Baines Johnson announced an “unconditional war on poverty.” The staggering amount of legislation that emanated from his first State of the Union speech as president really was unprecedented. Connecting the vision to the revered assassinated President Kennedy and salted with his own poverty experiences empowered a nation with hope that this nation could win over this diabolical enemy.
Much like when JBJ’s hero President Franklin Roosevelt took over during the Great Depression the energy to launch countless programs with a wide array of alphabet names was sent out into the community. Many of these programs they knew would never work but they worked on the theory that if we send out one hundred programs, we are likely to find two to three that work. Additionally, much like the Great Depression programs political benefits to the Democratic Party also became a very real consideration in what was promoted and moved forward through congress and ultimately signed by the President.
This war is undebatable just in concept. Making sure that in this country of unprecedented wealth and opportunity nobody must be hungry, living in deplorable conditions and prevented from the opportunity to succeed. However, something happened along the way. The programs that were funded were those that could show that they were the best caretakers of the poor. Any program that was designed to reduce the numbers of those that are poor were dismissed. Those in poverty became the voting block that the politicians were harvesting. Suddenly, American society forgot that the concept was to help these men and women to flourish and in turn that would cause our communities to flourish. In our amnesia we do not recall that these men and women have great value, they have skills and abilities that will help all of us to rise and be better. These men and women have ideas and passions that can help us solve the most difficult of problems. Our loss of memory makes us blind.
In 1966 when the first of these war on poverty programs first hit the streets of Main Street America with great fanfare the number of those living below the poverty line was roughly 13% which was already down from what it was in 1964 when LBJ made the declaration. From that day to today the number has fluctuated some. Many argue that we got distracted from the war on poverty by the shooting war in Vietnam. That maybe true. But even now in the 2020s the poverty rate is still around 13%.
The war at best could be said to be at a stalemate.
Would we have been content in 1944 to let the Axis keep most of Europe in the name of peace? Before the June 6 Normandy invasion, we could be said to be at a stalemate. The war would have come to a stop and peace would be declared. The idea of ending a match as a tie would have been an anathema to Americans. We love winners, we love victory. No, we planned the invasion in great detail. Then we fought. Our leaders adjusted the battle plans as contact with the enemy ensued. Ultimately, we brought freedom to men and women in concentration camps, in occupied nations and restored order to a continent.
Are we content to keep the stalemate going ? General Eisenhower gathered leaders from multiple disciplines and planned the details of D Day and created the best plan they were capable of and then adjusted as contact with nature and the enemy revealed themselves. In the war on poverty we are acting as if the world is still the same as it was in 1964. The plans have not changed, the strategy has not developed, victory continues to allude us.
My friends, it is time for us to change that reality. This war can be won in America and around the world but it will take a plan that brings together a community. Voices of those in occupied lands must be heard (like the French Resistance). The voice of the government leaders need to be brought to bare not just with financial resources but with rules of engagement (laws) so that friendly fire incidents are reduced. The voice of the business leaders must be heard for they will supply the resource and they are often the most hurt by the current efforts in the war. The voice of faith must be heard because the strongest weapon in this war is hope. The voices of everyday people must be heard because we are a compassionate people.
Let us reason together and develop a plan so that we can succeed in launching D Day and in time victory will be assured.
