Poverty Is an Institution it is NOT a "choice"

What is an institution? It is anything that is embedded within our society that we base our laws and policies upon. Websters Dictionary defines an institution as.”… a well-established and structured pattern of behavior or of relationships that is accepted as a fundamental part of a culture, any established law or custom…” The institution of poverty feeds upon racism, sexism (including LGBTQ), classism, ageism and those with disabilities in order to keep it in place.

In spite of the terrible damage this institution causes, as did the Institution of Slavery and racism has for 100s of years, institutions remain in place because they benefit someone. It will remain in place because those in the upper classes depend on this embedded institute for their own benefit, so eradicating poverty is *not* what any upper class people could accept. Instead they like to pretend that poverty is a ”choice’” rather than accepting that fact they enjoy many benefits because poverty is embedded in our society. They prefer to think they do not benefit from an institution that is like a giant spider’s web ensnaring those in poverty while continuing to benefit those “above” them.

What the middle class does not seem to get while they enjoy their dependence on the poor is that this Poverty Institution uses the poor as “canaries in the mine” for making policy and laws. So if the upper classes ~ especially the middle class ~ ignore these laws and policies because they think it will not affect them, they do not seem to get that those same policies and laws can also be imposed on them ~ or that they can be affected and benefit off the suffocating of others.

I can name some ways that the upper classes depend upon the poor, but it would be long and wonky. Suffice it to say many industries make big money off those in poverty, whether it is because of their dependence on cheap labor, gate keeping positions for those who "serve" the poor, our taxes (the poor make the greatest sacrifice for paying taxes than any other class, paying upwards of 12-17% of their meager incomes), tax breaks for the rich who "contribute" with their donations (when actually they contribute nothing because they use mega-nonprofits as their private Cayman Islands), our prison industry, government fees and penalties, rental housing, the medical industry, the list goes on and on...

So in truth while we pretend the poor depend on the upper classes, the reality is that the upper classes depend upon the poor, the institution of poverty for their own benefit. Nobody is going to speak for the poor because if anybody with a shred of morals recognized their own dependence upon "the least among us" and the suffering that dependence causes, then they would actually have to do something about it.



My (more than) 2 cents
Love, Cat