In 1964 President Lyndon Johnson launched his “War On Poverty” with the
goal of bringing about a “Great Society” that would eradicate poverty and
address some of the social problems arising in the early sixties. It was
thought that a “historic expansion of the federal government” would do the
trick.[1]
The approach is the same put forth by so-called progressives today—not the
least of which is President Obama and presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton. To
the average American listening to or reading the news, it seems to make sense:
“Yeah, we have all these problems in the inner-city and among the
poor—especially among minorities—and if we put enough money toward them and put
together a few more government programs, it should help.”
There is only one small problem. It has not worked. Not only wisdom,
but compassion should move us to take a step back and reassess the problem. As
the old saying goes, “The definition of insanity is to keep doing the same
thing over and over, but to expect different results.” It is time we look to
different strategies. To make that point I want, first, briefly to define one
of the key problems at the heart of poverty and societal dysfunction, and then
look toward a solution.
A
Key Problem
To identify the problem I want to go back over fifty years (1965 to be
exact) to a report put together by the Democrat senator from New York, Daniel
Patrick Moynihan. In the “Moynihan Report” this former Harvard-professor, former
U. S. Ambassador to India, and former U.S. Representative to the U.N.,
addressed concerns he was seeing at the time in the African-American family. A
man who deeply cared about the state of the family in America, he put his
sociological prowess to work in researching the topic. Here is what he wrote:
“The fundamental problem is that of family structure[, especially the absence of fathers]. The evidence—not final
but powerfully persuasive—is that the Negro family in the urban ghettos is
crumbling.”[2]
If that is what Moynihan suggested then, what would he conclude now.
Consider the difference between then and now:
On the day his report was released, about one-quarter
of black kids were living only with their mothers. Moynihan called this a
crisis, as indeed it was, but 50 years [later], the numbers are nothing short
of astonishing: Between 70 and 75 percent of all black Americans are now born
out of wedlock, a tripling of the trend Moynihan had spotted. More than half of
Hispanic children are born out of wedlock now while more than one-third of
white babies are born to unmarried mothers.[3]
Though many lawmakers believed the problems emerging from such familial
situations could be addressed by government programs, Moynihan was skeptical. “Government,
he reasoned, could not tuck a child into bed at night; government could not
save a marriage; government could not help a broken family fall in love again.
These were, he said, primarily cultural problems and not economic or political
problems….”[4]
But why are these statistics of interest, especially if a person is
committed to a secular state, devoid of any religious influence? Consider the following:[5]
(1) Decades of research have
shown that teen pregnancy rates, drug abuse, school drop-out rates, and many
other social problems increase when fathers are not in the home.
(2) According to University of
California at Santa Barbara researchers, William Comanor and Llad Phillips,
“…the most critical factor affecting the prospect that a male youth will
encounter the criminal justice system is the [absence] of his father in the
home.”
(3) “In almost all
categories…income, academic achievement, and employment [African American
families have stagnated or lost ground over the past half-century.”
(4) The poverty rate for
African Americans is about 30 percent, and 4 of every 10 black children are
raised by single moms living at or below the poverty line. Statistics are
dramatically different for black Americans who are married: the poverty rate is
below 10 percent.”
Even though “American taxpayers have spent $22 trillion [in the War on
Poverty]--$920 billion in the last fiscal year alone…the results speak of
near-failure in many areas of major federal expenditure.”
And what has been the approach of the United States government? To form
“more than 80 federal government welfare programs that almost all have one
thing in common: they provide very real financial incentives for couples [of all
races and backgrounds] to remain separate and unmarried.” At the same time this
has been taking place, we have removed faith from the public square, re-defined
marriage, and done virtually everything we could to assure that more and more
children are raised without fathers—one of the very components that Moynihan
and countless researchers since then have uncovered as a key to our societal
breakdown. “According to the 1010 census, for the first time in American
history, more than half of all babies born to American women 30 years of age
and under were born out of wedlock. The Centers for Disease Control in March
found that 25 percent of All American babies born since 2010 were to
cohabitating couples…twice as high as just 10 years ago.”[6]
Recently the Wall Street Journal revealed that, “Cohabitating parents now
account for a clear majority—59 percent—of all births outside marriage.”[7]
Thirty years after he published his report (1995) Moynihan commented on
what had happened since his initial research: “The biggest change, in my
judgment, is that the family structure has come apart all over the North
Atlantic world.” What would he say now, 21 years after those comments?
Let me draw two main conclusions and point them particularly at those
reading this post who are followers of Jesus Christ.
To begin, some of you have concluded either that the public square (or
political process) is not worthy of your time because it does not impact lives
or you have concluded it is not worthy of your time because it is inherently
evil. Now, there is no doubt about it, there are evil people who have been, are,
and will continue to be part of the political process. But please understand
how much our structures and even our approaches to poverty and the family are
moral issues that impact the country, the lives of adults, the lives of
children, and future generations! We
must bring wisdom to the this arena. There are better ways to address these
important societal ills than what the majority in the government and the media are
advocating.
Second, we often think that those politicians who sound like they care really
do, because they continue to push the same old tired approaches of an alleged
“War on Poverty” that itself has become the ravaging enemy. We must stop
thinking that simply because people say they care does not mean they have the
solutions. Regardless of what side of the aisle they are on, those merely throwing
money, programs, and more anti-family stances at these problems are not helping.
For my entire pastoral career I have, in one way or the other, been on
the front-lines of helping those who are poor and hurting. During that thirty
year period I have seen a continual spiraling downward into what 1960’s
sociologist, Martin Seligman,
termed “learned helplessness” (and I would add learned irresponsibility).[8]
More and more people come for help who are addicted to drugs, have children and
are not married (and/or they are grown children who did not have both parents
in the home). And, what is more, they have no concept that their way out of
poverty is to get and keep a job. Finally, they have been conditioned into
thinking that someone (the government) will bail them out. So, they conclude,
“Why do we need to work?” What they are left with is continually being stuck as
“victims,” barely getting by, and living from day to day.
We can continue to try the same things, but they will not work.We must
look in a different direction and this leads to my final point I want to
address. There are solutions.
An
Important Solution
Let me simply introduce one part of the solution. As followers of Jesus
Christ, we must stop walking to the other side of the political road, ignoring
those who are injured and need our help. We have to become Good Samaritans in the
public arena! We must realize that in addition to helping those who suffer from
these systemic problems after the fact (and that we should), we must also work
to prevent the political pillaging.
How do we do this? We keep
advocating the importance of marriage (that is and has historically in all cultures
been procreative in kind), the importance of families, the importance of the
role of the father in the home, and also the importance of children learning responsibility
and a solid work ethic. This is the kind of situation for which God created us and
in which we flourish to the greatest degree (Genesis 1-2; Ephesians 5:21-6:4).
What is more, even though as Christians, we understand that God can
graciously overcome the challenges of a single parent home (and we certainly do
not want to suggest such situations are hopeless. They are not!), nevertheless,
we also understand that policies that encourage marriage, family, and the
presence of dads in the home are not merely religious issues; they are issues of
the well-being of children and our society!
And, make no mistake about it: Our compassion will fall woefully short if
we do not address these systemic and cultural problems!
[1] Throughout this post I am indebted to Timothy S.
Goeglein, “The Moynihan Report At 50,” in The City, 8,
2 (Winter 2015): 7-12.
[2] Cited by Goeglein, “The
Moynihan Report,” 8.
[3] Goeglein, “The Moynihan
Report,” 8.
[4] Goeglein, “The Moynihan
Report,” 9.
[5] All taken from Goeglein,
“The Moynihan Report,” 9-10.
[6] Goeglein, “The Moynihan Report,” 10.
[7] A November 27, 2015 article
cited by Goeglein, “The Moynihan Report,” 10.
[8] For this label I am dependent upon Marvin Olasky,
"Growing The Conservative Heart," an interview of Arthur C. Brooks in
World (June 11, 2016): 25.
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