Still the other America: The rise of poverty in the United States

In 1962, Michael Harrington wrote The Other America, a masterful examination of poverty in America and one of the major works behind LBJ's Great Society. Juxtaposing the "other" America of the poor, "the economic underworld of American life," with the "familiar" America of the "affluent," Harrington argued that American poverty "twists and deforms the spirit," while the poor themselves are "pessimistic and defeated," "victimized by mental suffering to a degree unknown in Suburbia". Yet this America "is off the beaten track," "hidden today in a way that it never was before". Indeed, "the poor are politically invisible," "increasingly slipping out of the very experience and consciousness of the nation".

How much has changed in four decades?

Today, the Census Bureau released new figures showing that poverty has increased, with the number of Americans living in poverty rising to 37 million, up 1.1 million from 2003. Of these, a third are children. As a percentage of the population, 12.7% of the population lives in poverty. In 2000, 31.1 million Americans lived in poverty. Since then, the number has risen steadily, to 32.9 million in 2001 and 35.8 million in 2003. In addition, the number of American without health insurance rose to 45.8 million, up from 45.0 million last year.

This may or may not have anything to do with President Bush -- I'm not about to make that judgment here -- but it's interesting to note that this increase in poverty is occurring in a time of solid economic growth. Whoever, or whatever, is to blame, I think that John Edwards is right: "America should be showing true leadership on the great moral issues of our time -- like poverty -- instead of allowing these situations to get worse."

And so, still, is Michael Harrington: "The other Americans are those who live at a level of life beneath moral choice, who are so submerged in their poverty that one cannot begin to talk about free choice. The point is not to make them wards of the state. Rather, society must help them before they can help themselves... This suffering is such an abomination in a society where it is needless that anything that can be done should be done... In any case, and from any point of view, the moral obligation is plain: there must be a crusade against this poverty in our midst... How long shall we ignore this underdeveloped nation in our midst? How long shall we look the other way while our fellow human beings suffer? How long?"

Yes, how long?

For more, see:

• Political Animal
• Matthew Yglesias (at TPM Cafe)