A friend of mine who once served in the Michigan House told me that “politics is theater.” Absolutely right! Most of it is play acting and the most annoying of the play acting (although some of the most effective) is the feigned concern over the poor. For many politicians, the poor are useful props, trotted out on stage whenever the political actor needs to demonstrate his “concern.”
Thomas Sowell focuses his razor-sharp analysis on this phenomenon here. It’s a column that I wish everyone would read.
Sowell’s column brought to mind the intellectually feeble piece John handed out yesterday, “Two America’s, Two North Carolinas.” The poor are also useful props for organizations that live off the donations of individuals and groups that believe in “social justice.” That is to say, the notion that there is deep injustice until society reaches the utopia of perfect equality. The strained rhetoric about an “economic divide” between “two Americas” is patently silly, but if politicians like John Edwards and organizations like NC Justice actually cared about the lives of poor people, they would pay attention to the various laws and policies that prevent them from improving their lives.
