Don't Forget the (Faux) Middle

by Diane Nilan

categories: Culture of Poverty, Government, Housing, stimulus

Published September 11, 2009 @ 05:07AM PT

As policy wonks and politicians try to convince us of recovery, the rest of the country is focused on white-knuckled survival. Far too many are in dire straits. Take Laura and her 2 teen sons, crammed in a ramshackle trailer with Laura's prematurely aged parents in Franklin, a little town south of Indianapolis.

Her parents live, like many housing-challenged seniors do, in a trailer park. Laura and her sons doubled-up with them because they are homeless, their abode lost in this latest fiscal crisis that continues to bedevil our country (despite all the "happy" talk). Her parents own this humble single-wide. From the outside it looks like the rest of the units in the park, but the inside tells the story.

Adding Laura and her 2 teen sons to the household probably didn't do it in, but it didn't help. The hole in the bathroom floor is only exceeded by the hole in the bedroom floor, a 10" abyss that appeared when the washer flooded. But federal stimulus funds haven't made it this far.

"My boys would just like to sleep in beds," lamented Laura, whose mental and physical illnesses would fill this blog. Laura used to work, but the place closed down and she can't find anyone to hire her, a willing but less-than-able worker. Laura said she once provided health care to the parents of Congressman Dan Burton (IN-5, R).

Prospects for Laura and her kids to crawl out of their deep hole are slim-to-none, with family doing all they can to help, and the previously frayed local safety net all but gone. So they'll bounce from place to place, getting more stressed by the moment.

As I travel the backroads of this country, I wonder how many other invisible families like Laura's are obscured by what appears to be the "normal" middle class composition of our nation. People in the small and mid-size towns that dot the map--some are doing OK, some struggling, some behind the 8-ball, and it seems like no one in power cares.

Government isn't the entire solution to all woes. But, with lots of middle-America tax dollars still being faithfully sent to the U.S. Treasury, a few rules should be in place for their use:

1) Everyone gets a place to live. And I'd add safe and decent. We've got to get over accepting homelessness in its many forms, including unstably doubled-up families like Laura's. This is a great job-creation endeavor.

2) Everyone who wants to work gets to work, for fair wages. We need to restructure workplace environments to be adaptable for people like Laura with more good intention than ability, but the benefits are worth it--restore/maintain dignity as well as generate income.

3) Everyone gets access to health care. A financially bankrupt sick population is pathetic. We're not there yet, but we're getting there fast.

4) Everyone gets to send their kids to decent schools. Do the math on property taxes and federal funding. Figure out how to divide the wealth so disparities don't cause gated-school mentality.

5) Everyone gets access to nutritious food. We've let the junk food industry rule long enough. We need common sense regulation to make sure we're not being served a heaping plate of tomfoolery.

This list is by no means complete. But I'm sure the majority of our population who comprise the middle would, if they had time, weigh in for a return to the good ol' days when common sense, not greed and power, guided public policy decisions.

Seems to me we should ask folks in Hillsboro, IN, to take in the sore head, Rep. Wilson, who embarrassed the good people of South Carolina. Maybe some middle America good nature will rub off on him.

photos by the author