Written by Eric Z. Lucas   

“We make a mistake when we assume some people are significant and others have no significance at all...” from "The Tao of Public Service"


The Battle for Significance

In the War on Poverty, the tide may now again be turning. Yet, if we truly wish to complete the task, we must engage in a battle for significance. All who strive must become warriors for significance; just as those who began the task. We must win that battle or risk losing this war.

The War on Poverty

In March of 1964, President Lyndon Baines Johnson, as part of his Great Society program launched the War on Poverty. He did this because he saw our national goal as “…an America in which every citizen shares all the opportunities of his society, in which every man has a chance to advance his welfare to the limit of his capacities…”

However, by the late 1970’s and early 1980’s the Great Society War on Poverty initiatives had begun to come under wounding fire. According to columnist Paul Krugman in his article, "The War Over Poverty," the attack narrative went like this:

"Antipoverty programs hadn’t actually reduced poverty, because poverty in America was basically a social problem — a problem of broken families, crime and a culture of dependence that was only reinforced by government aid. And because this narrative was so widely accepted, bashing the poor was good politics, enthusiastically embraced by Republicans and some Democrats, too."

In many ways, this is still where we are at the present time.


The War Against the Poor

In the United States of today, whether you know it or not, we are engaged in a battle for significance. The following quote defines the issue:

"There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what…who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it…These are the people who pay no income tax…And so my job is not to worry about those people. I'll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives."

The speaker states that his "job is not to worry" about the 47%. As he saw the task of president, his job was to worry only about those who carry the burden of paying for those "dependent" on the federal government.

Why does he not worry about everyone? He does not have to worry about the 47% because they are not important. From the standpoint of the speaker and those who were listening with approval, the dependents are not important because they are not makers of wealth. For the speaker and his listeners only the makers of wealth are significant. Those who do not make wealth are insignificant: only the wealthy have value, those without wealth are worthless. And that is the issue.


Warriors for Significance: FDR and LBJ

The leaders of our nation who began The War on Poverty thought and felt otherwise.

In his speech on the “Four Freedoms,” President Franklin Delano Roosevelt said:

"…We look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms. The first is freedom of speech and expression — everywhere in the world. The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way — everywhere in the world. The third is freedom from want —everywhere in the world. The fourth is freedom from fear — everywhere in the world...

We should bring more citizens under the coverage of old-age pensions and unemployment insurance. We should widen the opportunities for adequate medical care. We should plan a better system by which persons deserving or needing gainful employment may obtain it..."

LBJ sought to build on FDR’s efforts. In his speech entitled: "Special Message to the Congress Proposing a Nationwide War on the Sources of Poverty," he stated the following:

"What does this poverty mean to those who endure it? It means a daily struggle to secure the necessities for even a meager existence. It means that the abundance, the comforts, the opportunities they see all around them are beyond their grasp…Worst of all, it means hopelessness for the young…facing a mounting sense of despair, which drains initiative and ambition and energy."

For FDR “freedom from want” is an essential human freedom. And LBJ correctly saw that if this form of freedom is denied or left undeveloped it leads to hopelessness and despair. Yet, none of this will happen unless we help one another.


Conclusion: The Significance of Helping

It almost goes without saying that we refuse to help anyone we feel has no value. Often, people will try and justify their help by pointing to what someone has done or not done.

Yet, we will sacrifice and even die for the sake of a helpless, newborn child. And this example disproves the “earning” idea some associate with help. In truth, if we closely analyze, NO ONE IS GIVEN HELP BECAUSE THEY SOMEHOW EARN IT. This is due to the fact that even the suggestion of helping another has a prerequisite. That prerequisite is the assumption of value.

My book "The Tao of Public Service" comments on the question of value as follows:

"Every person, place or thing has a purpose. In every form of life, for every event, there is an essential idea…We are born into this world to do and act in a certain way. We actually have a cosmic and universal right to “be ourselves” and to engage in certain work. The great R. Buckminster Fuller stated in his book Critical Path that “nature did not require hydrogen to “earn a living” before allowing hydrogen to behave in the unique manner in which it does...”

And this is why we help. This is why we must help. We must help because every single person deserves to be helped. Every single person has a purpose. We all deserve to fulfill our true purpose. Every person is important. No one is insignificant.