March 26, 2020
By Sasha Abramsky
Amid a pandemic and shifting economy, the question of how to address U.S. poverty may finally emerge as a top issue in a presidential campaign.
The U.S. may finally be ready to address the crisis of poverty head-on. After decades of bipartisan neglect and as a global pandemic promises a historic economic bust, the issue may be forced to the forefront of the presidential campaign.
People around the world are quarantined, businesses have been shuttered and there’s a strong likelihood that millions will lose their jobs and savings as the stock market crumbles. Poverty and access to health care will almost certainly be all-important issues in this November’s election.
“Poverty hasn’t been very interesting in presidentials [elections] for a long, long time,” says Peter Edelman, professor of law and public policy at Georgetown University and author of the book “Not a Crime to be Poor.” “We’ve never been successful at putting it on the front burner.”
In recent election cycles, politicians of both parties have bemoaned a rising inequality seemingly hard baked into the economic structures of modern America. But they have done so in terms that generally express concern for a struggling middle-class and outrage at the growth of a small billionaire class that has disproportionate influence over the political and economic systems of the country. They have often taken swipes at poor people and anti-poverty programs instead of seriously addressing the conditions that trap people in poverty.
Read more at https://caseygrants.org/evn/essay-poverty-may-move-to-the-center-of-the-presidential-race/.
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