Defining Poverty

For most Americans, poverty is perhaps best defined through the lens of Dorthea Lange as she photographed the forgotten men, women, and children of the Great Depression of the 1930s. Poverty is still with us in every part of the nation, but we have come a long way from a time when there was no federal program for those in need. One of the outcomes of that program has been the distortion of the definition of what it means to be poor. John Hinderaker explores the subject in his post at Power Line.

OTR's sons know poverty firsthand through their travel and work in north Africa, the Middle East and central Asia. They have little patience with those who claim that poor Americans number in the tens of millions or that the republic--and its economic system-- is an oppressive master.

Footnote: The woman in Lange's photograph, Migrant Mother, is Florence Owens Thompson. You can read more about her and see other photographs from the series here in a Wikipedia entry.