Is Poverty A Choice?

First:
Mankind will generally agree that there should not be suffering, and as a general rule when we have the ability to remove suffering we should. But looking at United States alone, how can we solve a problem when culturally, educationally, idealistically, we are all at fault for the poor? As of now, when discussions of solving the inequities of the current U.S. distribution of wealth come into fruition, there is polarization on almost every point. We all agree that the poor shouldn't be as poor as they are, but when it comes time to find a solution we can't seem to have consensus. This is because we all have different reasons why we think poverty exists. There is consensus that the bottom shouldn't suffer, but it doesn't look like we want to give up our slice of the pie. 

Our school's teachers, who on a general rule fall to the left on our political scale, are part of and support a union who has fought in support of raises and benefits for its teachers for years. Now one would think that if their political affiliation and their beliefs were true and prudent, they would use their collective not only for themselves but for the injustices that break the families living in homeless shelters across the nation. Utilizing their power and influence in this city not for higher wages and more benefits but for the betterment of the people who their elected politicians say they will help but never really do. But like their political counterparts they are greedy with their time and money. They are self Righteous. 

The men who sit in the brokers chairs up in the towers that face to the northeast of my school claim that they have the solution. They know that the market will take care of all. They trust in the market that is feeding their children steak and parsley. Probably never having even dealt with poverty, you know charity-diners don't usually look as good if people who don't have the glitz come. They have no understanding or regard for those who to them are money wasting burdens who could be working. Like their political counterparts they WANT TO SOLVE THE ISSUE but seem to do nothing.

Now in the ghetto to the west of my school, there are many types of people. There are those that choose to be poor, doing drugs and wasting their time and money seeing no future for themselves. There are those who are trying their damnedest to get the hell out. There are those who are fine scraping by. All of them are living a life that is not even comparably as comfortable the two examples above, but they all seem to have something in common; they act for themselves.

See this is the problem we have everywhere, it's only that the debate over poverty brings it to light; WE ARE SELFISH, NOT SELFLESS. 

MY SELFLESS AND FLAWLESS ANTIDOTE:

I'm am going not going to be the guy that complains and then gives no solution.

Is it society's fault or the individual's?

It is both. We are not perfect. And for Christ's sake of course society is not. We need to support those who are unable to support themselves. The mentally ill, the disabled, impoverished mothers, but we also need to acknowledge that Welfare is corrupting and is not necessary in many cases. Welfare should continue to supplement the employment of those who are employed. Employment is the key to moving out of poverty. Employment utilizes and rewards dedication, timeliness, responsibility, all qualities that much of the ghetto and the underclass need to learn. Unemployment needs to be way shorter to actually create some incentive to work, and if one does not find a job, they can  work for the government at a newly implemented organization which works on all of the factions of American infrastructure. Now we're paying for your ass and getting some work out of it! There are obviously flaws to this plan. Number One being there's a lot of stuff left out, but it illustrates a point. The difference between my plan and many others that I hear is that my plan has ideas that come from both sides. Sure it's biased. I'm human. But it is also open. I listen to everyone's ideas when they speak. I may argue, but I understand that there is no greater validity to my ideas than theirs. I have learned a lot from other people: self-righteous, well read, informed, not one care in the world; if you cast away the shackles of thinking your right, you might actually learn.

XoXo

Let Love Reign On You, 

You American Cowboys.