The current economic crisis is impacting millions of Americans in their daily lives. From young people struggling to afford food and gas to old people watching their retirements slip away, these are difficult times. Increasingly, more and more Americans are afforded the opportunity to identify with the plight of the more than 36 million impoverished people in our nation. Our financial climate presents a golden opportunity for Americans to reflect on how best to help the poor.
A large group of prominent evangelicals hopes to make poverty a center-stage issue during these difficult financial times and the upcoming elections. According to a recent Associated Press story, prominent organizations are working to make eradicating poverty a political priority. They are, therefore, urging voters to support only those candidates who promise to fight poverty. These organizations include Jim Wallis's Sojourners, Jesse Jackson's Rainbow/Push Coalition, and the massive nonpartisan anti-poverty effort ONE.org. Jim Wallis, in particular, has been heralded as a symbol of the "new evangelicals": politically-active Christians who focus primarily on issues like poverty, healthcare, and racial equality. Wallis's Sojourners are spearheading a program to "Vote Out Poverty."
Unquestionably, the poor have been neglected in recent years. Notwithstanding the commendable efforts of the "religious right" to defend the unborn, they have largely ignored the other groups who fit into the "least of these" category. "Conservative" Republicans in government have focused on subsidizing the rich and some have enabled large-scale corporate corruption. Indeed, incumbent Republicans have been so busy helping businesses that they have forgotten about the poor and needy. Other than the brief welfare-reform effort in the mid-90s, the poor have largely been ignored by the Right.
Of course, when one side of the political spectrum ignores you, the other side appears more attractive. Th