Poverty is more than money

There’s a misconception about poverty – probably many misconceptions. Poverty is often seen as just a lack of money. But it goes beyond that to a lack of opportunity, agency, and dignity, often creating a cycle that is difficult to break without intervention. That’s the traditional idea around poverty and it’s pretty accurate. But I don’t think it goes far enough because what I observe is that poverty is more than just related to economic situation and opportunity.

I see the concept of poverty can be applied to a variety of topics. I would argue that people can have a poverty of ethics, morals, character, empathy, attention, critical thinking, and more. This idea helps me explain so much of what we encounter in the world. The US government leadership has a plethora of poverty among it. There is a severe poverty of ethics and character on full display.

There is something that I learned about long ago when I started in non-profit work was the relationship between poverty, middle class, and wealth in relation to topics such as time, money, clothing, food, etc.

One of the most interesting parts of this is how people in poverty, middle class, and wealth relate to time. The wealthy are focused on the past. That’s because their present and future are secure. They don’t have to worry about either of those. So they focus on the past – the telling of the story of their family and how their family became wealthy. Sometimes they tell the truth about the past, and other times they embellish it in order to control the narrative.

The middle class have a different relationship with time. Their present is secure. They will be able to pay their immediate bill and provide for their immediate needs. But their future becomes a main focus of attention. They focus on retirement and how much they will have and how long it will last. There is no guarantee about the future. And this focus on the future prevents them from looking at the past.

Those in poverty also have a different relationship with time. The only time that exists is the present. that’s because the present is uncertain. They don’t know if they will have enough for the day. They may not know where they are sleeping or what they are eating today. Their transportation may not be working. How will they maintain their job? What if someone gets sick – how will they pay for that? The future and the past are times that don’t exist for them.

The side of effect of this is that if the present is the only time that exists for you, then what you do right now will not have to be consistent with what you do later. There doesn’t need to be a consistency of thought or rationale. If the only time that exists is right now, then you don’t have to consider future ramifications (or don’t have the ability or capacity) and you don’t examine the past to see how you got to where you are. You can ignore the past. It doesn’t exist after all.

As far as I’m concerned, this is why we see some politicians act the way they do – If they have a poverty of ethics, morals, and character, then the only time that exists is right now. And they don’t have the capacity to consider how your actions will impact the future. They don’t worry about having a consistency of argument. It’s all about right now.

When you have a poverty of ethics, morals, and character, then you slip into the theology of empire, which is just this form of poverty embodied. You believe that you are in charge. In reality, you are asleep, dreaming. Your dream has you in charge and in control and everyone doing as you tell them to do. Poverty of ethics, morals, and character drives a person to live by the ends justify the means. That’s because everything and everyone is disposable for someone who lives by the ends justify the means. Time is disposable as well. Consistent rationale is disposable.

We have many elected officials and administration officials who are trapped in a poverty of ethics and character. And it shouldn’t surprise us when they act the way they do. It shouldn’t surprise us that they get us into a war without a consistent rationale. It shouldn’t surprise us that they advance policies that will cause harm on numerous people. It shouldn’t surprise us that they destroy friendships and allies. It shouldn’t surprise us that they provide cover for corruption. This is exactly what we should expect from people who have a poverty of ethics and character. And when this is over, they should be held accountable – knowing that they will throw each other under the bus to save their own necks. They should be held accountable and never allowed back into positions of power or influence again. They should be held accountable – not because doing so will provide some kind of warning to others. There will be others who have a poverty of ethics and character in the future and they will be unaware of what happened. No, they should be held accountable for the sake the sake of the future and to learn from the past. To be an example of how to hold these people accountable for future people who are not trapped in a poverty of ethics and character.