| | Stephen Colbert on helping the poorJanuary 31, 2012 - Andrea JohnsonSince I don't get cable, I'm not all that familiar with the comedian Stephen Colbert or his show "The Colbert Report," though I've thought he was hilarious when I have seen clips of his work. Apparently Colbert also has a more serious side. One of my Facebook friends posted a quote someone has attributed to Colbert that I think should inspire some soul searching: "If this is going to be a Christian nation that doesn't help the poor, either we have to pretend that Jesus was just as selfish as we are, or we've got to acknowledge that He commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without condition and then admit that we just don't want to do it." Colbert is apparently a practicing Catholic and CCD teacher, which I would guess has some impact on his private political views, which are probably those of a typical progressive liberal Catholic concerned with social justice causes. The Facebook quote sounds like it could have been delivered by a priest during the homily at Sunday Mass. Colbert isn't a serious political candidate, but his remark addresses a lot of the themes that are going to come up again and again as we move into the full swing of the presidential campaign season. More people are poor now than were four years ago. Even in North Dakota, which is experiencing unprecedented prosperity, there are more people who are hurting financially, struggling to find housing or pay for necessities in communities where prices have skyrocketed. All over the country the Occupy Wall Street protests have been ongoing. What does it really mean to help the poor? Does it mean welfare or programs that assist the poor to buy health insurance? Would the poor be better helped if we focused on helping them to help themselves and how should that be done? Should such help come from private resources or does the government have an obligation to assist its citizens? Can the country afford to provide federal assistance to the poor given the state of the national economy? It may not be as simple as saying "We just don't want to do it." In some cases, maybe it's "We want to help, but we don't know how or we just can't do it." In other cases, it really means we don't want to help, particularly when the poor are particularly despised or unadmirable. But based on what I remember, it was those most despised, the least worthy, that Jesus would have walked among.
Whatever your political slant, though, Colbert's comment is worth some consideration. Article Comments(7)jbillingsFeb-13-12 1:48 AM @Andrea: It was used by at least one priest but perhaps the rest don't have the balls to be so blatantly truthful to their congregations. @OldDog: Someone is poor because the job(s) don't "make ends meet". You may think these people are just trying to get a free ride and are probably all tree hugging liberals but there are many nouveaux pauvres these days in (the real) America due to the housing collapse, hedge funds backed by retirement funds, etc. There hasn't been much that has happened in Republican controlled Congress in the same timeframe. AndreaJohnsonFeb-10-12 11:38 AM And then, Old Dog, there are the people who work two or three jobs to pay rent that has skyrocketed to over $1,000 a month on a place that cost half that a few years ago, who don't have cable or cell phone bills and still struggle to make ends meet. Even if you have two TVs or a burner cell phone, which are relatively cheap these days, it doesn't necessarily mean you can afford the rent. Salaries have not gone up along with the cost of living in this area. OldDogFeb-10-12 10:37 AM And I have to ask.. In whose eyes are the people poor? Ask yourself if owning 2 tvs having a cell phone or two, having a computer and Internet, having a job that helps you to make ends meet. Are you poor? And by whose standards? Government standards? If you tell people they are poor enough times they will soon believe it.. $23,000 is poverty level in the USA. Thats almost $2000 a month or $500 a week.. If you have invested in all the items I mentioned above you have created yourself another set of extra bills.. Cell phone $40 a month, Internet $40 a month TV Cable $50 a month.. None of these are a requirement to having a life they are an extra which folks do not have to have..but they are considered poor without them.. There are actually folks struggling to get by many are poor by their inability to budget just like Washington DC where the Dems have gone over a 1000 days without passing a budget. I am sure the Obama administration will be the 1st administration in history to have neve incognitosaurFeb-10-12 9:29 AM The price of silver is 34 dollars these days. Take a one dollar bill and stamp a 34 on it. Take a 5 dollar bill and stamp 170 on it. Take a 10 dollar bill and stamp 340 on it. Take a 20 and stamp 680 on it. A 100 dollar bill and stamp 3400 on it and then you can easily see that the monetary system is a phony baloney mess that can't be fixed and it never will be. dakkrattFeb-10-12 9:07 AM Some people just cant keep up.If our money is so worthless than why are so many countries investing in the dollar? MattRothchildJan-31-12 9:45 PM Fix our monetary system first, then we'll talk. Until then, our present system will impoverish people and continue to impoverish people all for the rich benefit of those who get to use the money first, before it becomes worthless. Worthless with which to pay wages that don't move up with the costs of living. Until the monetary system is fixed, neither we nor Colbert have anything to discuss. Post a Comment | in: News, Blogs & Events Web |
