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of a homeless mother with her children
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In America, 3.5 million are homeless; over a third are
families; over 1.6 million are children. Of the 1.6 million, close to 1.3
million are homeless students enrolled in our country’s public preschools
and grades K-12.
In a country that touts family values, places values on
education and equal opportunity, that should be unacceptable, yet it’s not.
It’s not, because we have bought into capitalism’s message, that
as long as we have a market place absent of government regulation or
interference of any kind, everyone who works hard can achieve the American
Dream. The message comprises the espoused value that the money at the top of
the economic ladder eventually trickles down and improves the economic standing
of the poor, the working classes, and the nation as a whole.
But that’s a fallacious message. Ninety-five percent of the growth
in income filters up to the 1% at the top the economic ladder. The truth is
that the rich are the only ones who benefit from free-market capitalism
In fact, it punishes the innocent, our children, who are not
responsible for their circumstances. Children and homeless students usually don't
have safe and secure places to play, study, sleep, or eat, if they have the
food to eat at all. Their well-being
and ability to succeed are in peril. Homeless children and students
experience inadequate healthcare, hunger, poor nutrition, emotional problems, and
behavioral problems. In that, there are 1.6 million children denied of equal
opportunity.
Whether we want to acknowledge it or not, we are a people
who idolize the rich and condemn the poor to worthlessness. The proof of that
became obvious with the results of the 2014 mid-term elections, where America’s
majority gave a thumbs up for capitalism and increasing oligarchical control of
our government. The cheerleaders of free-market capitalism were elected in sufficient
numbers to overrule any proposed legislation that might benefit those who are down-and-out
and can’t fend for themselves.
You see, free-market capitalism is only tolerant of those
people who are capable of achieving success.
We need a radical change in our collective consciousness,
our compassion, and our socioeconomic values if we want to be the people and country
we claim to be. Egregiously that is not going to happen anytime soon.
Copyright © 2014 Horatio Green
