穷人在左,敌人在右TomEblen.PDF

WhenPovertyWastheEnemy,NotthePoor 穷人在左，敌人在右 TomEblen PresidentLyndonB.JohnsononhisPovertyTourofAppalachia,April24,1964. (Photo LBJPresidentialLibrary) It has been 50 years since America launched the War on Poverty. The Economic OpportunityAct andlegislationto outla racial discriminationwerethe centerpieces ofPresidentLyndonB.Johnson’svisiontocreateaGreatSociety.美国开展 “贫穷之 50 战”已有 年了。禁止种族歧视的经济机 法令法律是总统林登 ·约翰逊构建 “了不起的社 ”中最重要的一环。 Today, rather than a war on poverty, we seem to have a war on the poor. Wealth inequality is growing. State support for education is withering. Social safety-net programs are under attack in Congress. Many Americans believe that if people are poor, it’stheir ownfault.Theonly“solution”forpovertythatmanypeople advocate isallowingcompaniestocreatejobs offeringwagestoolo tosupportafamily.如今， 我们似乎与穷人而非贫穷为敌。贫富差距与日俱增。国家对教育的支持衰减。社 会安全网项目在国会中饱受抨击。许多美国人认为，人穷，就是自己的错。许多 人倡导的唯一 “方法”是让企业创造就业机会，支付难以养家的低工资。 Althoughitisno widely—andinaccurately—portrayedasacostlywelfareprogram, the War on Poverty was not a failure. If not for government anti-poverty programs since 1967,thenation’spovertyratewouldhavebeen 15percentagepointshigherin 2012, according to a studypublished recently by the National Bureau of Economic Research.虽然现在被广泛，不准确地描绘成一个昂贵的福利计划，但“贫穷之战” 是可圈可点的。根据最近经济研究国家统计局公布的一项研究，如果不是1967 2012 15 年的政府扶贫计划， 年国家的贫困率会高 个百分点。 For the many Americans committed to fighting economic injustice, the War on Poverty offers some valuable lessons. It showed what can work—and what is still working. It can even work in some of America’s poorest places, such as the Appalachian Mountains of Eastern Kentucky where Johnson traveled in 1964 to launchhis“war”fromthefrontporchofapoorlaborer’scabin. 对于许多致力于与经济不平等抗争的美国人，贫穷之战提供了一些宝贵的经验教 训。它表明什么有效，什么仍然有效。它甚至在一些美国最贫穷的地方起作用， 比如肯塔基州东部的阿巴拉契亚山脉。1964年约翰逊造访那里，在一个贫穷劳 动者的小屋门廊前发起了他的 “战争”。 Asayoungadult,RobertShafferaccompaniedhisfathertotheMarch