America's Poor

Republican Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer of SC

Hey Dad,

I did read Leonard Pitts' article "Public silence greets
poor's powerlessness". Referenced below:

http://www.miamiherald.com/living/columnists/leonard-pitts/story/1454250.html

Mr. Pitts' article is ostensibly about the plight of America's
poor. Another it seems in a long line of articles detailing
America's continued marginalization of the poor. No new
news here. Just another rehashing of commonly known
facts regarding the poor. But it is interesting that Mr. Pitts
chose to use the remarks of Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer of SC to
support his article. Because if you consider the context in
which Mr. Bauer made his comments you might draw a different
conclusion on why Mr. Bauer made the comments he did.
You are aware that Mr. Bauer has shown himself to be
one who will say or do anything to replace Republican Mark
Sanford as Governor of South Carolina. And to this end Mr.
Bauer has been put into the position of having to 'out republican'
his competitor in order to garner favor and support from the
base of the Republican Party of SC. And you can just
imagine how low one must sink to appeal to this group.

In conclusion, I think it is disingenuous of Mr. Pitts to use
Mr. Bauer's comments to support his argument that America's
continued marginalization of the poor is the result of people
like Mr. Bauer. Mr. Pitts might have better served America's
poor if he had concentrated his attack on those individuals
Mr. Bauer has to pander to to become elected. Then maybe
we can really get at the reasons why Americans continue to
marginalize the poor.

Mr. Pitts in his article has inadvertantly promoted the political
aspirations of Mr. Bauer and couched this view in a story about
America's poor, at the cost of not getting at the root causes of
why Americans view the poor as they do.