The problem isn't that government efforts to address inequality don't work. It's that they were only haltingly tried.
economic inequality
The new tax law reveals the cynicism and greed of GOP leaders.
The House tax bill would cap the benefit—a solid idea in a bill that doesn't offer many.
Poverty's lifelong damage
Decades worth of data have proven that poverty shortens lives. Will anyone respond?
Uniting the new working class
Today's laborers are more likely cleaning toilets than mining coal. But there's still a need to organize.
Need to confess
The whole church needs to encounter the courage and truthfulness of the fact that God created us good, to love and be loved.
American Christianity has faced theological-political crises before. Repeatedly, visions of what is possible for the nation have fallen short of reality. In the past, periods of change pushed faithful people to reconsider what they believed, not only about the nation but also about the meaning of God’s call to justice. In each critical moment, for good or ill, Americans altered their religious views, and the horizon of what was possible expanded or contracted. In revolutionary America, disunity resulted from debates over whether faith required obedience to the king or a revolt.
Cultivating equality
Even if increased equity were to involve a slightly smaller pie, the resulting social order may be preferred. When poverty declines, the social costs of poverty fall, and despair is replaced by hope.
Any attempt to counter Donald Trump's appeal needs to address the fundamental economic realities behind that appeal.