Why I'm an unapologetic Progressive:
I've been poor, and I've been not so Poor
Not so Poor, is better ...
Although, it took a LOT of Hard Work, and a LOT of Years, to claw my way from Poverty, into the Middle Class.
Why I'm an unapologetic Progressive:
I've been without Health Care, and I've been with Care
With Care, is better ...
Although, it took a LOT of commitment, to stick with No Career-track Jobs -- to get some meager amount of Health Care, sometimes.
Why I'm an unapologetic Progressive:
I've been without Hope and Opportunity, and I've been with Some Hope
Being with Hope, is better ...
Although, it took a LOT of Student Loans, self-determination, and YEARS of paying back Student Debts -- to escape the soul-weary Traps of Poverty -- and the limited Opportunities, that are the hallmarks of that dreary demographic ...
And things are NOT getting any easier in that work-a-day world of the ever Shrinking Paychecks, otherwise known as, drawing the "Poor Card", in the Lottery of Life.
Personal Progress should depend on your hard work, initiative, drive, skills and knowledge -- not on which side of the tracks, your were raised; or which Social Contacts you have in your Economic circle.
"Equality of Opportunity" should be more than an Ideal in Life ... especially in America
-- It should be the Reality. It should be a given.
But sadly those Wealthy Few at the top of the Economic Scales, STILL keep managing to tilt most of those Opportunities, most of the Income, and with it most of the Hope -- into their Favor ... into their Pockets; and into the Favor of their friends and benefactors too. Those at the Bottom, well we just need to KEEP pulling up on those Boot-straps, I guess.
Progressives, especially those who focus on a Tax Fairness, a Living Wage, dignity and Safety in the Workplace, Fair Trade, Education, and Security in Health and Retirement -- they speak for me. They speak to the troubles, that I and millions of others have faced, in the daily struggle to find the means, to find the will to survive ... survive to pay yet another round of bills, in an endless chain of bills.
I've been without Hope and Opportunity, and I've been with Some Hope
Being with Hope, is better ...
Yet for Millions (or 20% of the Population, about 60 million Americans) "Hope and Opportunity" become more out of reach everyday, every year ...
(one thing all those debt-ridden years at the University taught me however, was how to research a topic, and how to crunch those oh-so-important Economic numbers ...)
NOTE: Quintile is a fancy word for 20% of something, [in this case Americans' Income] ranked in order, from the least to the most.
In 1968
In 1978
In 1988
In 1998
In 2004
In 2008
In 2009
and ... IF "Equality of Income Opportunities" were indeed the Reality in America -- those Pie Charts SHOULD really look more like this:
In an Ideal World
Kind of looks like the "gold" segments of Society have been taking MORE than their "fair share" of the Economic Pie, for at least several decades -- at the expense of those who have far too few slices of "opportunity" to begin with --
And the long-run trends indicate that this Income Inequality, has been only getting worse.
These charts tell us that those at the top of scale, those with the Gold, those with the breaks in life -- They just keep getting more, while those at the bottom of the Income/Opportunity scale, they just keep getting less and less ...
Here are the increasing rate of Poverty stats:
U.S. CENSUS BUREAU -- Current Population Reports - Issued September 2010
Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2009 (pdf)
[Page 14]
POVERTY IN THE UNITED STATES -- Highlights
-- The official poverty rate in 2009 was 14.3 percent -- up from 13.2 percent in 2008. This was the second statistically significant annual increase in the poverty rate since 2004 (Table 4 and Figure 4).
-- In 2009, 43.6 million people were in poverty, up from 39.8 million in 2008—the third consecutive annual increase in the number of people in poverty (Table 4 and Figure 4).
-- Between 2008 and 2009, the poverty rate increased
for non-Hispanic Whites (from 8.6 percent to 9.4 %),
for Blacks (from 24.7 percent to 25.8 % ), and
for Hispanics (from 23.2 percent to 25.3 % ).
For Asians, the 2009 poverty rate ( 12.5 % ) was not statistically different from the 2008 poverty rate (Table 4).
http://www.census.gov/...
What does the long-run trend look like -- in the battle between the Wealthy Few and the weary Working Class Many ? ... Lop-sided battle that it is.
Here are those Wealth Distribution numbers crunched, once again -- breaking up the Population into 5 income bracket groups (Quintiles) and the US Govt too often does. Actual counts of Families effected, would probably be TOO Stark a metric, SO Quintiles it is.
Trend from 1967 to 2009 -- Bar Chart
larger
Trend from 1967 to 2009 -- "Equivalent" Areas Chart
larger
larger -- fewer percentages
larger -- no percentages
and ... IF "Equality of Income Opportunities" were the Reality in America -- those longitudinal Trends Charts SHOULD look more like this:
In an Ideal World
larger
But alas we don't live in such a world -- where all humans are born into Equal Opportunities -- some of us are MORE Equal than others, in Life's Wheel of Fortune Lottery.
THAT'S WHY I'm an unapologetic Progressive ...
I've been poor, and I've been not so Poor
Not so Poor, is better ...
Although, it took a LOT of Hard Work, and a LOT of Years, to claw my way from Poverty, into a very shaky the Middle Class perch.
And yet there are Millions, of Americans, STILL trapped in that Land without Hope, without Opportunity, WITHOUT WORK, many without homes, and too many without health care too. (otherwise known as the ranks of Poverty and the Unemployed and the bilked.)
THEY STILL need the Help of those More Fortunate in Society ... and much, much less of Society's scorn.
THEY STILL need Progressives to Stand up and be heard, to be counted, and to be "factored into Congressional Deals" ... that is IF ever, the "Tables of Equality", are to be Tilted back in favor of ...
the Unfortunate Many. The Workers-bees in life.
America IS better than, what we've been getting ...
or at least WE should be. We believe that all People are created equal ... and that ...
Some day all that Pursuing of Happiness, should actually lead there,
Don't you think?