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Contagion

"Come away; poverty's catching."

--Aphra Behn, English Restoration dramatist

Councilman John Grasso, who supported colleague Derek Fink’s bill, was not impressed. "When I came out of high school, I had two full-time jobs and a part-time job," Grasso said. "So my heart doesn’t go out to any of you with this problem."

Grasso went on for a minute and a half, his voice rising as he concluded, "You get out of life what you put into it. You save your money, and if you can’t afford it, you can’t live there." --Who Gets to Live Where? By Lawrence Lanahan

"Not in my backyard."

Even if these matters do not invoke you to demand change and bold action, one must consider the economic outcome. If we fail to fix some of the problems in the ‘other’ MCPS, those problems will ripple into other parts of the county. House values may plummet, county budgets may unnecessarily skyrocket causing cuts in other programs, and the whole county may feel the effect. One way or another, these Two Montgomerys will become one.

--A Tale of Two Montgomerys, written by Michael Robinson

"There goes the neighborhood."

"The fact is, we’ve had growing inequality in the country for many years," [McGuire] said. "It didn’t happen overnight, but it’s steadily been happening. Government used to be a source of leadership and innovation around issues of economic prosperity and upward mobility. Now we’re a country disinclined to invest in our young people."

Majority of U.S. Public School Students Are In Poverty, by Lyndsey Layton

I don't have much to add to this except to say that the millions and millions we are spending on the Corporate Educational Complex (Pearson, et al) should be at work lifting children out of poverty. And all the money and lawsuits and broken window policing being leveraged to keep people out would be better used in bringing people in.

It does seem that many today are operating under the 17th-century notion that poverty is contagious and that avoidance is a cure. In fact, as student Michael Robinson points out, it is much more likely to spread if it is ignored. Addressing poverty means going right up to it. Blaming the poor may be done from a distance.

What will we do in Howard County? What will we choose in Columbia's Villages?

 

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