Social Activists for Taking Care of the Poor, Where Are You Now?

By Kevin McGary

Rampant and accelerating inflation, and they're silent? Gas and heating oil are now at their highest levels, and they're silent? Meat and general food costs are now significantly more than 18 months ago, and they're silent? President confirms impending food shortages, and they're silent? What happened to the supposed social activists and progressive clergy, they who would scream and virtue signal by haranguing everybody about the need to vote for Democrats/progressives so we can best "take care of the poor?" For many Americans, economic conditions are trending the worst in a lifetime.

So, where are they, the supposed social activists? They've been exposed as ideological frauds. They're now silent and complicit in embracing the worst conditions for the poor that resulted from rhetoric and policies delivered by their party and president.

America used to have sincere people who would genuinely advocate for taking care of the poor. Zealous like missionaries, they were focused and tireless. They did not rely on political parties to be their compass and motivation to help people. They were wholly missional, not ideological. But those days are long gone.

Today, social activism means posturing for an ideology. With the current Biden administration and Democrat-led economic policies, America is enduring the most significant attack on the working class and the poor in the lifetimes of people under 50. Is the word "attack" too strong? No, because the economic policies and schemes hatched out of this administration are purposeful and intentional, not to mention also mean-spirited and cynical. The effects are debilitating to all families but are especially damaging to the poorest working-class segments of society. Yet social activists, progressive clergy and so-called advocates for the poor are shockingly silent and therefore complicit. They may as well stand and applaud these grotesque policies.

Economists have recently calculated that "Bidenflation" will cost the average family/household an additional $4,000-$5000 this year. Imagine an extra cost of $400 a month. Smack that onto a family living paycheck to paycheck that was just barely making it 18 months ago—this cost jump can put them on the streets. Max out the credit cards, then it's game over for millions of decent Americans.

Consider also how such inflation levels steadily wipe out the retired, elderly, widows and others of our neighbors living on fixed incomes. Private savings and public safety nets can't keep up. Inflation does more than steal people's incomes; it actually distorts and damages the national economy, reducing productivity, wealth and opportunity for nearly everyone. The whole picture is outrageous and devastating.

Now ask again: Why don't we hear the hysterical screams of outrage from purported "advocates of the poor" of the past? Do they really care, or are they purely progressive ideologues?

During the previous administration, Congresswoman Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez was a preeminent virtue signaler and masterful projectionist with her talking points about the need for policies that "take care of the poor." Then came the Biden administration to implement Ocasio-Cortez's "green" philosophies by immediately canceling federal oil drilling permits, Keystone XL pipeline and fracking and natural gas drilling. These policies launched the predictable rocket of steadily increasing gas prices for all and disproportionately affecting the poor. Cortez and her comrades then blithely tell suffering people to buy a Tesla! Dismissing the poor completely, Ocasio-Cortez confirms herself as a progressive ideologue and a fraud.

Progressivism delivers, that's for sure. The grotesque derelictions and reprobate machinations of those demanding an immediate transformation to green energy have generated the attack on the working class and the poor. On top of wholesale inflation of the money supply, halting significant gas production in the U.S. is directly responsible for the misery that the poorest among us now endure.

The Biden administration came into power when America was energy independent. Biden immediately incorporated policies to limit gas production, so prices increased. When gas prices rise, food prices (and other commodities) must increase, most quickly and obviously because of higher fuel costs for trucking items to market.

Most medium to high-income earners feel it when all prices rise, but they may not be disrupted. However, consistent and accelerating inflation, as we see now, affects the financially-struggling people disproportionately—their lives are disrupted and devastated. I have personally experienced this devastation many times; it's awful and not something those supposed advocates for the poor should be laughingly dismissing. The discomfort of a hungry stomach and the threat of not being able to pay next month's rent are overwhelming. Bidenflation is bulldozing millions of Americans toward that fate.

Now is not a time to be cavalier about taking care of the poor. Every Black Life Matters is unwavering about the need to help our working class/poor. Since the reigning politicians are more committed to total transformation of America (by forcing green schemes), and fraudulent "poor advocates" have proven they're wholly driven by progressive Democrat ideology, it's real good-hearted Americans who need now to aid one another in this politics-driven time of peril. Sweeping away the race-class-sex rhetoric and facing the challenges head-on, EBLM will do all we can to help the poor truly. Will you? Please stand with us as we stand up for the working class/poor by shining the light on derelict schemes and policies that actually harm. This precarious moment we're living in isn't about ideology—it's about humanity!

[Kevin McGary is an entrepreneur, author and keynote speaker. He serves as president of Every Black Life Matters, chairman of the Frederick Douglass Foundation of California and executive with the Douglass Leadership Institute and the Northstar Leadership PAC. As a professional, Kevin has worked the past 35 years in information technology expertise: cybersecurity, enterprise applications, application development automation and enterprise job scheduling/utilities. Committed to developing innovative and new approaches to today's socio/political issues, and with the assistance of elected officials and a myriad of community activists, he lectures and provides workshops about today's most perplexing issues.]