It’s hard giving thanks when you’re hungry. It’s harder living in the
world’s richest country. It’s harder still knowing government officials
don’t care. It’s hardest of all wondering how you’ll get by.
More below on growing hunger and deprivation. It’s increasing in
America at a time trillions of dollars go for warmaking, corporate handouts, and other benefits for rich elites.
Giving thanks predated the republic. In 1621, Plymouth Pilgrims did so. They had nothing to do with originating the idea.
Native Americans did. They gave thanks for annual fall harvests. They did it centuries before settlers arrived.
On November 26, 1789, George Washington proclaimed the first national thanksgiving day.
He called it “a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed
by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favours of
Almighty God.”
In 1863, Lincoln used the occasion to boost Union Army morale and patriotic fervor.
He “invite(d) (his) fellow citizens to set apart and observe the last
Thursday of November next as a day of thanksgiving and praise to our
beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens.”
He “fervently implore(d) the interposition of the Almighty hand to
heal the wounds of he nation and to restore it to the full enjoyment of
peace, harmony, tranquillity, and union.”
He didn’t live long enough to see it. Government officials today
exploit Thanksgiving. They promote the illusion of US exceptionalism,
moral and cultural superiority.
Social inequality, moral degeneration, and
police state lawlessness reflect today’s reality. Constitutional rights don’t matter.
War on humanity persists. Corporate crooks go unpunished. Democracy
is a convenient illusion. Powerful monied interests run things.
Ordinary people are hugely deprived. Growing needs go unaddressed. Government officials able to make a difference don’t care.
Thanksgiving has many disturbing ironies. Presidents annually issue a
“pardon.” It spares a preselected turkey’s life. It does so by
proclamation. This year two were spared.
It’s unclear precisely when the tradition began. Lincoln did so.
Thanksgiving day 1963 was November 28. Kennedy was assassinated six days
earlier. Before his death, he let one turkey live. “We’ll just let this
one grow,” he said.
Nixon began sending turkeys to a petting farm near Washington. He did so after a
White House photo-op ceremony. No formal pardon was given.
GHW Bush was the first president to do it. On November 14, 1989, he
said a preselected turkey was “granted a presidential pardon as of right
now.”
Obama issued annual presidential pardons. On Wednesday, he spared two turkeys.
“The office of the presidency, the most powerful position in the
world, brings with it many awesome and solemn responsibilities,” he
said. “This is not one of them.”
“Tomorrow, as we gather with our own friends and family, we’ll count
ourselves lucky that there’s more to be thankful for than we can ever
say and more to be hopeful for than we can ever imagine.”
A November 27
White House press release said in part:
“On Wednesday, November 27, 2013, President
Obama will pardon the National Thanksgiving Turkey in a ceremony on the North Portico.”
“The President will celebrate the 66th anniversary of the National
Thanksgiving Turkey presentation, reflect upon the time-honored
traditions of Thanksgiving, and wish American families a warm, safe, and
healthy holiday.”
“After the pardoning, the turkeys will be driven to George Washington’s Mount Vernon Estate and Gardens.”
“The National Thanksgiving Turkey will be on display for visitors
during ‘Christmas at Mount Vernon,’ a traditional program through
January 6.”
“The turkeys will then travel to their permanent home at Morven
Park’s Turkey Hill, the historic turkey farm located at the home of
former Virginia Governor Westmoreland Davis (1918-1922) in Leesburg,
Virginia.”
Jaindl’s Turkey Farm in Orefield, Pennsylvania, gave President
Obama‘s family two dressed turkeys that will be donated to a local area food bank.”
They need much more than that nationwide. Hunger in
America is real. Millions are affected.
Official numbers understate a growing crisis. Congress ignores it.
Food stamps were cut when they’re most needed. Further cuts are planned.
On December 31, millions will lose extended unemployment benefits
unless Congress renews them. Both parties show little inclination to do
so. Bipartisan complicity reflects indifference.
On July 28, AP headlined “Exclusive: Signs of Declining Economic Security,” saying:
“Four out of 5 US adults struggle with joblessness, near poverty or reliance on welfare for at least parts of their lives.”
It’s a disturbing “sign of deteriorating economic security and an elusive American dream.”
“Survey data exclusive to The Associated Press points to an
increasingly globalized US economy, the widening gap between rich and
poor, and loss of good-paying manufacturing jobs as reasons for the
trend.”
Government data fall short of explaining things. Conditions are much worse than official reports.
Most Americans struggle to get by. Impoverishment or close to it affect them. So do millions experiencing hunger.
Franklin Roosevelt instituted the first Supplemental Nutrition
Assistance Program (SNAP). It began in May 1939. In 1941, he pledged
freedom from want.
On January 11, 1944, he delivered his last State of the Union address. He proposed a second bill of rights.
“This Republic had its beginning, and grew to its present strength,
under the protection of certain inalienable political rights,” he said.
“They were our rights to life and liberty.”
“As our nation has grown in size and stature, however – as our
industrial economy expanded – these political rights proved inadequate
to assure us equality in the pursuit of happiness.”
His solution was “economic bill of rights.” He wanted one guaranteeing:
employment with a living wage;
freedom from unfair competition and monopolies;
housing;
medical care;
education; and
social security.
Imagine if he’d lived long enough to implement it. Imagine this type
America today. Hunger, homelessness, unemployment and poverty wouldn’t be major problems.
State-sponsored class war exacerbates them. Growing millions need help. They face increasing hardships.
Force-fed austerity harms
America‘s most disadvantaged. Their numbers are far greater than most people think.
Half of US households are impoverished or bordering it. Growing millions struggle to get by. They haven’t enough to live on.
Most households with one or more workers live from paycheck to paycheck. They have little or no savings.
They’re one missed pay day away from being unable to handle daily expenses. They risk hunger, homelessness and deep poverty.
They live in the world’s richest country. It spurns its most
disadvantaged. Doing so swells their numbers. They suffer out of sight
and mind.
Banks, other corporate favorites and super-rich elites are disproportionately favored.
America was never beautiful. It’s less so than ever today. It’s dark side reflects reality.
Obama is no Roosevelt. He’s polar opposite. Anti-populism defines his agenda. Transferring
America‘s wealth to its most well-off is official policy.
He wants vital New Deal/Great Society programs eliminated. He wants them privatized en route to doing so.
Throughout his tenure, he instituted numerous social benefit cuts. He’s got more in mind. He’s heading
America toward third world status. He lies claiming otherwise.
Hungry Americans don’t matter. Half or more are children. Many
attending schools with hot breakfasts or lunches may get their only
decent daily meal.
Most households receiving food stamps have at least one employed
member. According to the Food Journal, they “typically include a child,
elderly person or a disable person, and a gross income of $744 a month.”
Average rents nationwide exceed $1,200 monthly. A tiny upscale Kansas
City, MO 800 square-foot one bedroom apartment costs about $1,000 a
month.
Median rents in
America‘s least expensive cities range from $623 to $730 on average. It’s a far cry from much cheaper earlier times.
Households earning $700+ a month struggle from day to day to get by.
They need help doing so. Washington provides increasingly less during
hard times.
Republicans and Democrats don’t give a damn. Today’s
America is a let ‘em eat cake society.
Growing millions are on their own sink or swim. Protracted Main
Street Depression era conditions persist. Things are getting worse, not
better.
Thanksgiving is no time for celebration. Not when hunger reflects
daily reality for millions. It’s been this way for years. Major media
editors largely ignore it.
On November 25, 2009, a New York Times editorial headlined, “A Thanksgiving Toast,” saying:
“Sitting down with friends and family today, there will be thanks for
the steady currents, flowing out of the past, that have brought us to
this table….And there will be prayerful thanks for the future.”
In November 2010, dismissive Washington Post editors headlined “Thanksgiving’s unchanging appeal,” saying:
We’re “fortunate to be alive and fed and sheltered, and the proper
response to our good fortune is not self-satisfaction but gratitude.”
Fact check
Poverty, homelessness and hunger are at Depression era levels. Feeding
America (FA) is Chicago-based. It calls itself the nation’s “leading domestic hunger-relief charity.”
It serves the needy “through a nationwide network of member food banks.”
In February 2010, it issued a report titled “Hunger in
America 2010.” In 2014, it plans updating it. Conditions now are much worse.
They were bad enough then. About 5.7 million Americans needed emergency food aid. It was over one-fourth more than in 2005.
It said one in eight Americans are food insecure. Around 14 million
children were affected. It’s about 16 million now. They don’t get enough
food to eat.
FA calls food insecurity “a complex, multifaceted phenomenon that
varies along a continuum of successive stages as it becomes more
severe.”
Food secure households lets them “access…enough food for an active, health life.”
“(T)he existence of so many people without secure access to adequate nutritious food represents a serious national concern.”
“More than one in three client households are experiencing very low
food security – or hunger – a 54 percent increase” compared to data FA
compiled in a 2006 report.
At the time, former FA CEO Vicki Escarra said:
“Clearly, the economic recession, resulting in dramatically
increasing unemployment nationwide, has driven unprecedented, sharp
increases in the need for emergency food assistance and enrollment in
federal nutrition programs.”
“Hunger in
America 2010 exposes the absolutely tragic reality of just how many people in our nation don’t have enough to eat.”
“Millions of our clients are families with children finding themselves in need of food assistance for the very first time.”
“It’s morally reprehensible that we live in the wealthiest nation in
the world where one in six people are struggling to make choices between
food and other basic services.”
On November 27, FA’s CEO Bob Aiken said in part:
“With the holiday season here and with many of us sitting down to a
table full of food this Thanksgiving, it’s hard not to reflect on the 49
million people in our country who struggle with hunger.”
“And it’s especially hard not to think of those families who earlier
this month saw their SNAP benefits cut, further straining their food
budgets.”
“We’ve seen throughout our network of food banks the impact that
these cuts are already beginning to have – with longer lines and an
anticipated growth in need.”
“Our food banks are stretched and charity alone can’t make up for this cut to federal assistance.”
“And with the possibility of further cuts to the program via the farm
bill, there is real concern that the need for food will not be met.”
“(W)e know hunger isn’t seasonal – it’s a year-round problem. It’s
our job to make sure that we shine a light on this issue all year, not
just around the holidays.”
In 2012, FA said 49 million Americans were food insecure. It affected 17.6 million households.
About seven million households experienced “very low food security.”
Households with children reported “a significantly higher rate than
those without children, 20 percent compared to 11.0 percent.”
Food insecurity persists across
America. It’s in every county. It ranges from 2.4% in Slope County, ND to 35.2% in Holmes County, MS.
America‘s national average is 14.7%. Ten states are significantly higher:
Mississippi: 20.9%
Arkansas: 19.7%
Texas: 18.4%
Alabama: 17.9%
North Carolina: 17%
Georgia: 16.9%
Missouri: 16.7%
Nevada: 16.6%
Ohio: 16.
1%
California: 15.6%
Hunger in the world’s richest country is intolerable. It’s
unconscionable. It persists. It’s worsening. It’s the shame of an
uncaring nation.
Families without enough to eat aren’t celebrating. They’re struggling
to find enough food to survive. Bipartisan complicity ignores them.
Anti-populism is official policy. Harder than ever hard times persist. Failure to address it reflects
America‘s dark side.
Equity and justice aren’t in its vocabulary. It bears repeating. Today’s
America is a let ‘em eat cake society. Hard times keep getting harder.
Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.
His new book is titled “Banker Occupation: Waging Financial War on Humanity.”
http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanII.html
Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.
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