Back in 1959, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. expressed his viewpoint that any religion, let alone its government, that permits or does nothing to ameliorate or to correct the conditions that damns, cripples, and strangles the common man, is a religion which is moribund, and by implication, a government that has lost its justification, its integrity and its purpose. Yet, decades later, while on the one hand, we can see that some meaningful progress has indeed been made, it must also be noted, that the same slums, and the same poor economic and social conditions are still eviscerating the opportunity and advancement of far too many Americans to the degree that their situation is well-nigh hopeless; and that is not the way that it should be, especially in consideration that America has all of the resources so needed to do the right thing, but not the will power or the follow through to actually accomplish such.
Every American deserves a fair chance to become something of merit, and the best way for that to occur is to see to it, that each American is provided with a good education, proper healthcare, safe housing, and nutritional food. That is the minimum structure so needed to help out those that lack those very accouterments at the present time. Further to the point, in order to have good citizens, each citizen needs to feel that they are an integral part and parcel of the great fabric that makes up this country, of which, part of achieving that goal comes down to the salient fact that all people that labor need to be properly compensated with a living wage; for all those that don’t make a living wage are thereby placed in the unenviable position of being both vulnerable as well as unstable in regards to their livelihood and their adequate existence.
There are far too many Americans that are impoverished, and none of this will improve, if the conditions that create this impoverishment are not fundamentally corrected to deal with what is all so visible, for anyone that cares enough to see it. America has proven again and again that it can achieve incredible goals with remarkable speed, when it puts its head to the grindstone, is funded properly, and works with purpose to achieve those goals. The fact that poverty and poor infrastructure is so systemic in America, is a true reflection that those that are the decision makers in this country, do not care to address what should be addressed in a meaningful manner.
One can measure and value a nation in any number of different ways, of which, one fair way, is how that country treats its poorest and most vulnerable of its citizens, for that, then, reflects fairly the soul of that nation. In that regard, America should properly receive a failing grade, made all the more telling by the inconvenient fact that despite all of its resources and all of its strengths, it still has the same slums, and the poor economic and social conditions, that existed decades upon decades ago, with absolutely no prospect that any of this will change for the better, ever.