Several factors contribute to our failure to do this, the least of which is an availability of opportunities in poor communities to build a strong internal economy. The problems of inner-city decay have rumpled the national fabric for well over a century and a half, yet we consistently fail to effect a cure. Greed and ignorance, cowardice and pandering are among the reasons we have failed in the past, and they are no less evident in our neglect of the poor today. Until poor communities are empowered to their own benefit, poverty will continue to rise and the consequence to society continue to spread. Until we change how we view the problem and what we do about it, public opinion about the poor will continue to erode, and they will continue to be made the scapegoat for problems which stem from other causes.
Empowerment is the right thing to do, but the wrong people are being empowered.
Continue as we are and we will shrink further from the ideals which we, as a nation, profess to hold. There is little dignity or pride in being a hypocrite.