The official poverty rate<\/a> for the United States in 2010 was 15.1 percent. There were 46.2 million individuals who were poor, defined as a family of four living on an income of under $23,050.\u00a0 Much has been written about the \u201cinvisible poor,\u201d and both major political parties have contributed considerably to this perspective.\u00a0 So much rhetoric is directed toward the middle class.\u00a0 We talk about lowering taxes for the middle class; about providing jobs for the middle class; about having affordable housing for the middle class; about educational opportunities for the middle class; about having reasonably priced and skilled health care for the middle class.\u00a0 One listens to this and it doesn\u2019t sound so bad to be middle class; in fact it sounds downright good.<\/p>\n

Much has also been written about the fixation of those people in the United States who are not wealthy but who aspire to be rich.\u00a0 Occasionally, this happens, because we are a society in which dreams of greater success certainly can come true.\u00a0 Our political conventions are full of \u201crags to riches\u201d stories, and even if a tiny handful of them are actually true, the fact remains that there are those who are poor or of modest means who achieve affluence, usually through access to quality education, hard work, and frequently, some well-deserved luck.<\/p>\n

One thing that those who are poor and those who are in the middle class have in common is a dream that lightning could strike any day, and they will join the ranks of the very rich.\u00a0 This is the \u201ctomorrow I\u2019ll win the lottery\u201d syndrome.\u00a0 Yes, that\u2019s true, if you believe that odds that are millions to one are a good bet.\u00a0 Enough people believe that this is going to happen that they let this dream trump what is in their economic self-interest and agree to support the Republican ideas of lowering taxes for the very wealthy, and establishing a socialistic-like welfare state for \u2026.. the very wealthy, like Mitt Romney or Donald Trump.<\/p>\n

The masses are often numbed to reality and play right into the hands of\u00a0 wealthy Republicans.\u00a0 While poor people may hold this dream even more firmly than those in the middle class, the rhetoric of\u00a0 Republicans, and often Democrats, is directed to those in the middle class. because they are more likely to vote, particularly in an era of increasing voter suppression.<\/p>\n

This leads to one of the most remarkable, yet simple, statements by former President Bill Clinton at the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday, September 5, 2012.\u00a0 Clinton said,<\/p>\n

\u201cWe Democrats think the country works better with a strong middle class, real opportunities for poor people to work their way into it and a relentless focus on the future, with business and government working together to promote growth and broadly shared prosperity. We think ‘we’re all in this together’ is a better philosophy than ‘you’re on your own.’\u201d<\/p>\n

President Clinton took the realistic point of view that it is reasonable for poor people to aspire to rise to the middle class where they can have adequate access to health, education, housing, and a suitable quality of life.\u00a0 This is a vast improvement for a family of four living on $23,000 a year, or an individual living on $10,000.\u00a0 By setting a realistic goal for those who are poor, Clinton gives hope that life can improve without waiting for the nearly impossibly happening of winning the lottery.\u00a0 He educates those who are poor and those who are in the middle class to learn that what is in their self-interest are economic policies that directly help them, rather than unlikely fantasies about becoming as wealthy as Romney.\u00a0 Access to health care at affordable prices, quality public education, Pell Grants for college, accessible and reasonably priced mortgages, food that is affordable and safe, and perhaps most importantl, jobs that pay decent wages and have the permanence that those of a generation or two ago had is just fine.<\/p>\n

President Clinton went on to say,<\/p>\n

\u201cIt turns out that advancing equal opportunity and economic empowerment is both morally right and good economics, because discrimination, poverty and ignorance restrict growth, while investments in education, infrastructure and scientific and technological research increase it, creating more good jobs and new wealth for all of us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reviews of Clinton\u2019s speech have noted how accurate his facts were, in particular contrast to many speakers at the Republican National Convention, including Vice-Presidential nominee Paul Ryan.\u00a0 But Clinton not only got his facts right; he got his concepts right.<\/p>\n

Clinton knows what American life is like.\u00a0 He grew up poor in Hope, Arkansas.\u00a0 With a salary in the mid-$30,000s, his life was middle class even as governor of Arkansas.\u00a0 Once president, he became well-off, and as a former president he has become both quite wealthy and also extremely charitable.<\/p>\n

His path to wealth involved taking advantage of fair and reasonable opportunities that were available to him, including good public schooling, scholarship aid to Georgetown University and Yale Law School.\u00a0 He worked extremely hard and had a clear sense of direction.\u00a0 He did not spend idle hours dreaming of stashing his money away in the Cayman Islands or banks in the Swiss Alps.\u00a0 He voted in both his own interest as well as those of the many poor and middle income individuals and families in Arkansas and elsewhere.<\/p>\n

Republicans succeed in large part because they hoodwink many individuals into voting against their self-interest (as described particularly well in Thomas Frank\u2019s book, \u201cWhat\u2019s the Matter with Kansas?\u201d<\/a>)\u00a0 This is one of America\u2019s greatest tragedies.\u00a0 As a very wise person said following the speech, Bill Clinton ought to be \u201cSecretary of Explaining Things.\u201d\u00a0 If he was, we\u2019d be a much wiser country and improvements in the quality of life for those who need it most would improve exponentially.\u00a0 Since that\u2019s not possible, perhaps it\u2019s time for President Obama to make Bill Clinton a full-time member of the team with the more realistic title of: community organizer.<\/p>\n

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