Ending Poverty In The United States
It was sixty years ago this past spring that then President Lyndon Johnson declared “war on poverty in the United States”. Later that spring when he spoke to the graduates at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, he unveiled his outline for his “great society” where poverty in the United States would be eliminated. He backed his vision with several programs that he said would attack poverty at the roots.
The first was the food stamp program. He became aware of hunger in the United States during a visit to the southern Appalachians where people were going hungry because they couldn’t afford to buy food and lacked the resources to grow their own food. At the same time, farmers in the Midwest were complaining about low crop prices causing them to dump milk and kill some livestock because they were losing money. This contrast with farmers dumping milk and killing livestock and people in some parts of the United States going hungry reminded him of growing up during the great depression in Texas where there was widespread poverty.
His idea was for the government to provide food coupons to individuals and families to buy food items so they could feed themselves adequately and that this could also have the effect of increasing demand for agricultural products and thus increase crop prices to farmers. To LBJ, this idea was the perfect win - win solution. To get the food stamp program through a reluctant congress where southern white Democrats held key leadership positions, this food stamp program was put under the Department of Agriculture. It worked and even to this day the food stamp program is still under the Department of Agriculture. It has gone on to be perhaps one of the most successful welfare programs in the country’s history.
The other cornerstones of LBJ’s war on poverty were education, health care and children. To those ends, he created the Head Start program to assist children from poor families to get ready for school. The first Head Start program was established near his ranch in Johnson City Texas in a church. That church has been moved to the LBJ Ranch and Historic Site near Stonewall Texas. He also started programs for education and a particular focus on early childhood education and literacy. I have a long time lady friend who is now retired who was a reading teacher in that program that LBJ started in the 1960s. LBJ’s other program was to provide federal money toward education all the way from early childhood through college. Pell Grants were a part of that program.
Regarding health care, in 1965, LBJ was able to sign into law the act that created both Medicare and Medicaid. Of course, Medicare went on to cover Americans over age 65 and later those on disability. Medicaid was the program that was to cover families with dependent children, the elderly, blind and disabled. When the ACA was enacted in 2010, Medicaid was to be expanded to cover everyone whose income was below the standard. However, the Supreme Court ruled that states could accept or reject the expansion of Medicaid. To this day, ten states have yet to accept this expansion of Medicaid for purely political reasons.
But a lot of LBJ’s “war on poverty” was derailed by the escalation of the real war in Vietnam. With the election of Republican Richard Nixon in 1968, the Republican party began chipping away at many of LBJ’s programs. Funding was cut and some programs stalled.
So, now the focus still needs to be where LBJ wanted it to be sixty years ago; focusing on children, families, education and health care. As a former teacher, I know that education is the way out of poverty and really opens the door to the “American Dream”. In the 1960s a lot of focus was on higher education, but now it needs to be to have a wider focus on the skills necessary for the 21st century. Educated people earn more money and that improves the economy. Health care is a no brainer. People cannot be productive when they are in poor health. Now, there desperately needs to be more money and resources spent on dealing with mental health. We talk a lot about that, but little is done.
We know how to literally end poverty in the United States. What we lack is the will to do something about it. Politicians now find it easier to demagogue about the poor and blame it on “poor personal choices”. That is pure BS! I spent four years working at a county welfare office in Ohio during the mid-1970s where my major job was to determine eligibility for Medicaid. I was the gatekeeper. Most poor then as well as now are poor because they lost in the “birth lottery” by being born into a poor family. It is not unusual to find families with five generations, all on public welfare. No doubt if I could go through the welfare files in that county where I worked fifty years ago, I would find the same families on welfare today.
I left that job in the welfare office in 1977 and made my career in the business world where I now have had my own business for several years. Again, we know how to end poverty in the United States. We had a President who made it his goal to end poverty in the United States, but he got sidetracked in Vietnam. LBJ was on to something sixty years ago. All we lack in 2024 is the political will and courage to do something about it. It can be done and doesn’t involve punitive taxes on the wealthy as some advocate or having the government run everything.
Lee Kamps
Lee has been working with Medicare, Medicaid and private health insurance since he began working at the Erie County Welfare Department in January 1973 where a major part of his job was determining eligibility for Medicaid. He went into the private insurance business in 1977 with Prudential Insurance Company and within a short time had become one of the company’s top sales agents. In 1982, he was promoted into management where he managed two field offices and as many as thirteen sales agents. After leaving Prudential in 1986, Lee decided to become more focused on health insurance and employee benefits. He has advised many local employers on how to have a more cost effective employee benefit program as well as conducted employee benefit meetings and enrollments for many area employers. The companies Lee has worked with ranged from small “mom and pop” businesses to local operations of large national companies. Lee received his B.S. degree from Kent State University where he has been active in the local alumni association. He has completed seven of the ten courses toward the Certified Employee Benefit Specialist designation. He has taught courses in employee benefits and insurance at Cleveland State University and local community colleges. In addition, Lee is an experienced and accomplished public speaker. He has been a member of Toastmasters International where he achieved the designation of “Able Toastmaster – Silver” in 1994. He has also served as a club president, Area Governor and District Public Relations Officer in Toastmasters as well as winning local speech contests. Lee has also been a member of the Greater Cleveland Growth Association’s Speaker’s Bureau where he was designated as one of the “official spokespeople for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame” prior to the hall’s opening in 1995. He has given talks and presentations before many audiences including civic organizations, AARP chapters and many other community groups. With the implementation of the Medicare Modernization Act (Medicare drug bill) in 2006, Lee has shifted his focus to Medicare and helping Medicare beneficiaries navigate the often confusing array of choices and plans available. As an independent representative, Lee is not bound to any one specific company or plan, but he can offer a plan that suits an individual person’s needs and budget. In addition, Lee is well versed in the requirements and availability of various programs for assistance with Medicare part D as well as Medicaid. While he cannot make one eligible, he can assist in the process and steer one to where they may be able to receive assistance.