There are a number of positive words that can be used to describe the United States, such as great, free, opportunity, as well as of liberty and justice for all. Indeed, there are plenty of superlatives that can be fairly addressed about the United States, of which, there are plenty of people both inside and outside of America, that believe that this nation represents the best of all worlds; for it is not only the most powerful nation in the world, it is also the richest, and it would seem to appear to have all the necessary ingredients to also be the happiest.
To a very large extent, what we so believe about a given person or nation, has a lot to do with the narrative propagated to us, along with pertinent examples of such, that we are duly shown, day by day. When it comes to America, this country desires that the world believe that it has not only a vibrant middle class, that should be the envy of the world, but also that it does a commendable job in seeing that the least amongst its citizens, is well taken care of. As they say, therein lies the rub.
It has to be said, that many people are aware of the fact that America does have its poverty issues, but few within America, are cognizant of how deep that poverty line does run for so many. For instance, we read at poverty/ucdavis.edu that “According to the Census Bureau, 20.03 million people lived in deep poverty in 2021,” of which deep poverty is defined “as living in a household with a total cash income below 50 percent of its poverty threshold.” Further, to the point, “In 2021, 7.2 percent of all children lived in deep poverty.”
Perhaps in a nation that believes so fervently in capitalism, the amount of deep poverty in America, is a fair reflection that successfully demonstrates that those that will not work, for whatever reason or circumstance, deserve to reap what they have sowed. So too, perhaps those children that live in deep poverty, deserve to be in that position, because they failed to have selected better parents or to live geographically in a place in which the poverty rate is low.
In truth, America should be absolutely ashamed of how millions upon millions of its own citizens live in abject poverty, of which a significant amount of those so living in that deep poverty, are vulnerable children, who deserve not that fate. To believe, somehow, that Americans should be okay with the deep poverty of its own people, on a such a huge scale, is a fair reflection that American governance as well as many of its people have no heart, and clearly then have not their priorities set correctly. To be the richest nation that the world has ever known, but to have 20 million of its own people existing in deep poverty, is a clear reflection, that the American dream is truly an American nightmare, for way too many people. As it has been said, a nation should be judged upon what it does or does not do, for those that are its most vulnerable. So then, America needs to look closely at who and what is really is; for, in reality, it has fallen far short of what it was meant and promised to be.