In 1989 there was a report by the Census Bureau stating the highest poverty rates in the nation was The South.
Mississippi was 25.2 percent. (click here for the report)
Louisiana was 23.6 percent.
The Republicans hold power in the South that was only recently challenged and when economic recovery didn't happen in two years they voted for Republican majorities and nothing got better in two more years.
The poverty level in the year 2012 is described by multiples of the current dollar amounts. A table from "COVERAGEforALL.org" (click here) describes the way poverty is documented to allow a reasonable understanding of poverty level(s) in the USA in the year 2012.
The point is poverty in the USA has never been realized from a perspective of 'real impact' on citizen's lives. The poverty line is a number that basically never changes. If the poverty line of 1970 was adjusted for inflation nearly 30% of the citizens in the USA would be under it currently. It could even be a full third.
It is convenient for those in politics to discuss the poverty line and the people under that standard if it never changes as a standard, but, the reality of quality of life in the USA relies on more than a single standard set decades ago.
In the elections of 2012 one has to consider not simply what is occurring in the USA as far as economic recovery, but, the longevity in some states and entire regions of the country sometimes; how long poverty; profound poverty has been a standard that is literally a huge drag on the recovery.
The USA South is definitely a standard of proof that long term poverty is easy to enforce through social mores while the wealth remains in the hands of a few. It is that standard the Republicans seek to emulate throughout the country.
The country has to look at where the social poverty standard is taking hold as well as where it is not and realize there are indoctrination of populous that are very difficult to change once survival is sought rather than comfort. Survival is fear.
This election is more important than anyone realizes. The Middle Class in most instances has been under assault for a long time and in some places accept the fact there is little available to change their lives.
I believe what is being witnessed to some extent in the country is complacency. A complacency that is a long term reality of The USA South. If impoverishment is accepted and there is a standard for that in the social understanding of survival, then to voters would it not be better to maintain the status quo to survive than to thrive.
In 2012 the USA faces making a choice to maintain the status quo of impoverishing the Middle Class through complacency of survival then ever before. The realization the wealthy in the USA are opting to purchase the elections 2012 only validates that reality more and more.
The people of the USA South see it this way, "I am good at being poor." The economic upheaval in a citizen's life can happen quickly because there is no buffer to prevent discrimination to presence in the work place. A person can be fired from their job for basically no reason at all and the unemployment offices understand that. The unemployment offices in The South hold a different measure of eligibility to that reality. The State's unemployment offices realize the lifeline they provide to people willing and able to work but unable to because of some harsh decision make somewhere against them.
There is a broader picture and I believe President Obama articulates it exceptionally well, but, the 'mind speak' in the media is ignoring the very essence of the country's quality of life right before their eyes.
"The Right to Work Standard" and the "Right to Work Standard For Less" is playing on the fear that incorporates poverty as a way of life for Americans. Those standards should be criminalized, quite frankly.
Have a better day.
