Abject poverty is the precursor to crime / by kevin murray

The United States is a highly unequal society, in which as reported by the Institute for Policy Studies, the three richest Americans collectively have more wealth than the bottom 50% of the population, which represents a total of 160 million people.  This sort of disparity of such a huge amount indicates clearly that too few have too much, at the expense of too many, having too little.  Not too surprisingly, in a country that is inundated with advertisements of all types and in all media forms, as well as having ingrained upon its nation's psyche, the importance of keeping up with the Joneses, such inequality breeds great discontent.

 

So then, it logically follows that all those that live in impoverished conditions, without hope, and without opportunity, are going to have a much stronger inclination towards considering the performing of and the doing of things which are lawless, in order to somehow make ends meet; in the hopes thereof of thereby obtaining some sort of piece of the American dream which has clearly passed them by; for they having been dismissed by mainstream society as irrelevant and of no consequence, have little or nothing to lose of value.

 

In point of fact, when we are told that idle hands are the devil's tools, it must be added that idle hands in enclaves of society in which those people that congregate there, widely suffer from being ill-educated, impoverished, and without promise, than this is quite obviously going to breed its own trouble, of which some of that trouble is going to birth crime.  On the other hand, when any society takes it upon itself that through progressive governmental programs, as well as through the involvement of motivated organizations of all stripes, to tackle the systemic problems of poverty in a manner so as to make real and lasting change, thereby providing hope and belief to those previously without much of either, this will reduce both trouble as well as crime.

 

Societies such as the United States, which are grossly and sickly unequal, yet, have in aggregate great amounts of monetary capital as well as the required infrastructure to provide a sound basis for a good life for all of its citizens; essentially have the necessary ingredients to eradicate poverty from its shores, if it would only set its mind and subsequently prioritize itself on doing exactly that.  In truth, for the most part, those that have nothing, are not typically looking for just a handout; but instead are really seeking to be provided a helping hand so as to have the basis of a solid foundation that will thereby permit them to succeed in such a way that they will make their own decent life through their invigorated efforts.

 

The poverty that exists in America represents failure, of which from that failure, crimes and bad behavior are the end products.  All those that wish to eliminate or to reduce crime considerably, should recognize that a far more effective way to do so, is to be proactive as compared to being reactive, and thereby should support the governmental taking through taxation and the fair application of law from the very, very rich, while, in return the giving of opportunity and of fairness to the very, very poor, which will make for a healthier society, of far less poverty, and of far less crime.