The coverage of Judy Sirko and her family provided a personal lens through which to understand deep poverty in Illinois. Over the July 4th holiday, we repeatedly saw images of our elected officials honoring the flag. But when they remain idle in the face of pervasive poverty, they dishonor the values that our flag represents. Nearly half of Illinois’ poor are extremely poor. What that means is a family of four is living on less than $9,000 a year; that’s $173 a week or $750 a month. Consider the average cost of an apartment in Chicago–$901–and you understand the catastrophic desperation of the extremely poor.
Extreme poverty is not just an urban or a rural concern, it is a concern that surfaces even in suburban areas synonymous with wealth. While important beginning steps have been taken in Illinois to address the needs of people living in poverty, the candidates are silent on the need to comprehensively attack this growing problem plaguing our communities. That kind of tacit acceptance is not just an abdication of their duty to uphold the common good, but it represents a blow to our national pride.
Over the past 200 years, our common good and our admirable commitment to freedom from want have been eroded by special interest and even individual greed, two topics in the current gubernatorial debates and political ad campaigns. And so they should and will continue to be.
But the status quo ignores fundamental issues that we as U.S. citizens have an obligation to face and address. It is also our democratic duty to focus on the common good.
Let’s challenge our gubernatorial candidates to declare what they plan to do to reduce and eliminate extreme poverty in Illinois.
