It's quite amazing when you think about it. Canada and the United States are literally teeming with anti-poverty activists.
No, I don't mean that vociferous minority clamouring for handouts from "the rich." I am talking about the millions of individuals who get up every morning.... and go to work. The achievements of these individuals in the never ending war on poverty have been nothing short of astonishing. Yet they are seldom, if ever, publicly recognized for their single minded devotion to this interminable struggle.
In 1993, Canadian anti-poverty activists managed to create over 38 billion dollars
worth of residential housing[1]. They didn't do that by carrying signs and harrasing politicians.
In 1990, Canadian anti-poverty activists also accomplished the production of almost 40 billion dollars worth of food and almost 7 billion dollars worth of clothing
[2]. Membership in a political party was not a prerequisite to this accomplishment.
Indeed, while the NDP or Liberals controlled the coercive power of the province of Ontario they did, what could only be interpreted as, their very best to undercut the ability of this province to continue waging it's war on poverty.
American anti-poverty activism tells a similar story.... American anti-poverty activists shipped close to 400 billion dollars worth of food and beverages in 1990 [3]. That's a lot of activism man! I say to all "caring" politicians, instead of auctioning off the earnings of true anti-poverty activists, why don't you DO SOMETHING for the people you claim to care so much about.
While legions of phony do-gooders wring their hands and whine about the lack of adequate shelter and clothing American anti-poverty activists, about a million of them [4], are actually making clothes! American anti-poverty activists battled homelesness in 1990 by producing about 120 billion dollars worth of single and multifamily residential units [5].
While these countless individuals quietly go about their peaceful war on poverty their achievements are seldom recognized or praised. Instead, the purveyors of left wing propaganda, newspapers like the Hamilton Spectator and others, have played into the hands of a multitude of noisy do-nothings calling them anti-poverty activists.
When was the last time you read an article about food banks which included an interview with a grocer or a farmer? When was the last time you read an article about the homeless which included an interview with a carpenter or bricklayer?
Who will I be voting for in the next election? If there is no libertarian party candidate in my riding I have no alternative but to support the candidate whose party represents the least interference and punishment of true anti-poverty activists.
[1] The Canadian Global Almanac (1995); John Robert Colombo; Copyright Macmillon Canada 1994
[2] The Canadian Global Almanac (1995); John Robert Colombo; Copyright Macmillon Canada 1994
[3] Louis Rukeyser's Business Almanac, Copyright 1991, 1988 by Louis Rukeyser and John Cooney; Simon and Shuster
[4] Louis Rukeyser's Business Almanac, Copyright 1991, 1988 by Louis Rukeyser and John Cooney; Simon and Shuster
[5] Louis Rukeyser's Business Almanac, Copyright 1991, 1988 by Louis Rukeyser and John Cooney; Simon and Shuster
Further Reading on Related Issues
Conquest of Poverty Henry Hazlitt / Reprint edition (March 1996) Foundation for Economic Education
Losing Ground : American Social Policy, 1950-1980 Charles Murray / Paperback - 352 pages 10th anniv edition (February 1995) Basic Books
Envy : A Theory of Social Behaviour Helmut Schoeck / Hardcover (February 1988) Liberty Fund, Inc.
The Politics of Unemployment, Hans F. Sennholz; Hardcover (Special Order)
Out of Work : Unemployment and Government in Twentieth-Century America (Independent Studies in Political Economy) by Richard K. Vedder, Lowell E. Gallaway (Contributor), Martin Bronfenbrenner /Paperback - 336 pages Updated edition (July 1997) New York Univ Pr;
