Forum Post: Poverty Is Man-Made
Posted 11 years ago on May 8, 2012, 1:22 p.m. EST by TrevorMnemonic
(5827)
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
Poverty is not an accident. Like slavery and apartheid, it is man-made and can be removed by the actions of human beings. -Mandela
Poverty is absolutely the natural state of man. Everything that lifted man above the level of a hunting, gathering, living in the trees simian, was created BY man. Anyone reading this who suddenly found themselves removed from supermarkets, electric power, the ability to communicate and travel long distances, medical care, readily available consumer goods, plumbing, and a host of other things would be back to the natural, pre-agricultural, pre-industrial state of man. They would also consider themselves poor. Having smart, ambitious, hardworking people through history has helped the greater number of people in our land rise above their natural state, which is basically an ape that is self aware, and can walk upright.
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Cannot buy the argument that poverty is the natural state of mankind. Nor can I buy the argument that lack of access to electricity and modern amenities necessarily constitutes "poverty". There are people, such as Inkas in South America, who live in farms, grow their own foods, dig their own wells, use herbs as medicine, play their own music and do not watch TV or listen to radio. Many of these sub-tribes still do not speak Spanish or practice Western religion. While we classify them as living in poverty, they view themselves as children of their pagan gods and live in harmony with nature and its ways. Sadly, there are others in Africa, India, and other parts of the world who do not enjoy these harmonious lifestyles. Indeed, they do live in poverty and I do not wish to see them having to endure such want and deprivation. But we can all agree that much of this depravation can be removed by the benevolent actions of others, especially by their own governments.
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We have to keep a large percentage of the population in need of government. Unfortunately, that means keeping them in poverty but they keep electing those who "help" them in their poverty and that means us Democrats.
If everyone is successful, Democrat politicians suffer and we can't have that!
Poverty was worse under monarchies and oligarchies. The royalty felt no obligation to ease the suffering of the poor. The French Revolution of 1789 resulted from economical and political oppression.
That a government eases the suffering of the poor is no fault, so long as it does not make slaves of them along the way and helps them toward a better life.
I'm not sure if you're missing the point of Mandela's quotation or not: poverty is human caused and can cured by human methods. That should be the aim of government assistance to the poor.
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