Today marks the fiftieth anniversary of Lyndon Johnson's State of the Union Address which began the War on Poverty, the only war America has fought since WWII that was worth the fight.
Despite the claims of numbnuts like Marco Rubio (am I the only one who thinks Rubio makes Ted Cruz--a lightweight if ever one existed--look like Winston fucking Churchill?), the War on Poverty has been an unqualified success. During the time in which the War on Poverty was actually funded properly (the first ten years), the number of Americans in poverty dropped from 19% to 12%. The numbers since still aren't shabby--from 19% to 15% (personally, I think Clinton's bow to republicans in welfare reform bears a great responsibility for this, as well).
Frankly, the reason the War on Poverty hasn't eradicated poverty in America is republicans--and what a surprise that is. Since the time of the callous Ronald Reagan, republicans have waged a concerted campaign of attrition to continue their War on the Poor using sexism and racism (among others) to keep old white folks in the fold, and leading them to believe their votes would bring back the nonexistent days of Mayberry
What they have done, however, is divided America and taken what would be true proof of our exceptionalism--our devotion to the well-being of our fellow countrymen--and turned it into a political football with which to placate their batshit insane base.
Had we fought any of our military wars of the past fifty years with the lies and misinformation that republicans have heaped upon the War on Poverty, our military would be the laughingstock of the world.
Peace,
emaycee
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