Those lyrics play on my brain every time I hear the term "War on Poverty." I understand their sentiment, though my philosophy tends toward an open mind.
I'm neither for or against the concept of going to war. Sometimes a country has to defend it's ideals and back it up with force. Sometimes, those interests are vague and tenuous. Sometimes, they're made up. But that's a whole other war post.
War as a term for an organized effort to accomplish some huge social undertaking started I suppose with President Lyndon Johnson's "War on Poverty."
This would be the time I would say war has no use. First, the point of war is to fight. The object becomes a putting down of an "enemy" who's reverse object is to put YOU down first. Adversaries fight, that's the point.
I argue that it should be a peace on poverty. Peace is negotiated.
Especially in the case of poverty. The poor lack resources and live in devastation. This resembles more the end of a war, to a time of seeking reconstruction and cessation of hostilities.
There's a concept in real estate called attractive nuisance. That is, if an abandoned house has one window broken, it wont be long before more windows in that house will lose their glass. The pattern stops if the first incident gets repaired.
Caring for a society means caring for all segments within it. A poor, disenfranchised population becomes the attractive nuance, breaking windows until they get the attention they deserve.
It doesn't matter if we "love" our fellow man, what matters is we are interdependent on each other. That if a large poor population spreads disease, these diseases cross income lines. It benefits all social strata to have a reasonably healthy, educated and content lower class.
On the other side, if they're sick, stupid and angry, untold hardship can come from their frustration. Things like riots, drug use and other mayhem. None of which will stay within the poor community.
So let us save everyone and create programs that eliminate the attractive nuisance of poverty.
We need a Peaceful Reconstruction.
Ain't gonna do WAR no more!
Kind comments welcome!
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