{"id":153207,"date":"2016-05-24T08:59:38","date_gmt":"2016-05-24T14:59:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=153207"},"modified":"2016-05-24T08:59:38","modified_gmt":"2016-05-24T14:59:38","slug":"do-the-upcoming-elections-matter-to-the-homeless-hungry-and-disenfranchised","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2016\/05\/do-the-upcoming-elections-matter-to-the-homeless-hungry-and-disenfranchised\/","title":{"rendered":"Do the upcoming elections matter to the homeless, hungry and disenfranchised?"},"content":{"rendered":"

COMMENTARY:\u00a0<\/strong>The poor, hungry and needy were incredibly important to Jesus.<\/p>\n

In The Biblical book of Matthew, 19:21, Jesus said, \u201cIf you wish to be perfect, go, sell your possessions, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Jeremy

Courtesy photo<\/p>

Jeremy Reynalds<\/p><\/div>\n

How would our presidential candidates treat the homeless, hungry and disadvantaged in our nation? It\u2019s hard to know for sure, as people\u2019s views evolve over time. But it is possible to pick up some ideas.<\/p>\n

This article is not a guide or suggestion on how to vote, but based upon public statements and broadcasts widely available. If you read carefully and prayerfully, it might give you an idea on how heavily (or not) our nation\u2019s vulnerable lay on the hearts of our leading presidential contenders. Homelessness is, of course, just one of many issues that\u00a0should guide you in the voting booth.<\/p>\n

Donald Trump and the issue of homelessness<\/h3>\n

According to the New York Daily News<\/a>\u00a0and one Democratic publication<\/a>,\u00a0Republican presumptive nominee Donald Trump has complained for decades about homeless veterans who he says threatened his property values.<\/p>\n

The News reported that Trump wrote in a 1991 letter to John Dearie, then-chairman of the state Assembly\u2019s Committee on Cities, \u201cWhile disabled veterans should be given every opportunity to earn a living, is it fair to do so to the detriment of the city as a whole or its tax paying citizens and businesses?\u201d<\/p>\n

He added, \u201cDo we allow Fifth Ave., one of the world\u2019s finest and most luxurious shopping districts, to be turned into an outdoor flea market, clogging and seriously downgrading the area?\u201d<\/p>\n

The publication claims he wrote a 2004 letter to then New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, claiming \u201cWhether they are veterans or not, they (the vendors) should not be allowed to sell on this most important and prestigious shopping street.\u201d<\/p>\n

He reportedly warned, \u201cThe image of New York City will suffer\u2026 I hope you can stop this very deplorable situation before it is too late.\u201d<\/p>\n

The New York Daily News said the city\u2019s original peddling exceptions for veterans date back to 1894 \u2013 created to give those disabled during the Civil War a chance to support themselves.<\/p>\n

Commenting on a legally required public bench in the Trump Towers that has apparently ended up being covered with planters preventing anyone from sitting there, the New York Times reported<\/a>\u00a0that Trump wrote in an April 16, 1984 letter on file with the City Planning Dept, \u201cWe have had tremendous difficulties with respect to the bench \u2014 drug addicts, vagrants, et cetera have come to the atrium in large numbers.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added, \u201cAdditionally, all sorts of \u2018horrors\u2019 had been taking place that effectively ruined the beautiful ambiance of the space which everyone loves so much.\u201d<\/p>\n

Here is one of Trump\u2019s specific plans for helping the disadvantaged. Quoted by authors and sociologists of religion Christopher Pieper and Matt Henderson in the Dallas Morning News<\/a>,\u00a0Trump said, \u201cTeenage mothers (shouldn\u2019t) get public assistance unless they jump through some pretty small hoops. Making them live in group homes makes sense.\u201d<\/p>\n

The column authors say, \u201cHis best 21st-century idea is the worst of 18th-century ideas.\u201d<\/p>\n

The authors were quoting from a 2000 book by Trump. Here is the rest of the quote. \u201cCan restraint be taught? \u2026 A lot of these girls didn\u2019t have fathers or full-time parents. But there are people — I think we can call them saints — who dedicate their lives to helping kids like this. Whoever they are, and whether they work out of a church, a temple, or some kind of public facility, they deserve all our support.\u201d<\/p>\n

But that notwithstanding, and hunger in New Mexico, Trump reportedly said that food stamps should be temporary.<\/p>\n

Quoted in a publication 2011 publication \u201cTime to Get Tough,\u201d Trump added, \u201cAnd it shouldn\u2019t be needed often. Thankfully, 96 percent of America\u2019s poor parents say their children never suffer even a day of hunger. But when half of food stamp recipients have been on the dole for nearly a decade, something is clearly wrong, and some of it has to do with fraud.\u201d<\/p>\n

He continued, \u201cThe blatant waste of taxpayers\u2019 dollars \u2026 (is) all part of (the liberal) broader nanny-state agenda. Perhaps that\u2019s why (the) administration doesn\u2019t give a rip about policing fraud or administering responsible oversight-he\u2019s buying votes.\u201d<\/p>\n

There was nothing on Trump\u2019s official website about homelessness and hunger<\/a>,\u00a0but he did have a position paper about needed Veterans\u2019 Administration reforms<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Hillary Clinton’s viewpoint on homelessness<\/h3>\n

In 1999, while speaking on CNN\u2019s \u201cTalkback Live,\u201d<\/a>\u00a0Clinton called for the homeless not to be criminalized. She said, \u201cCriminalizing the homeless whose only offense is that they have no home is wrong. Locking people up for a day will not take a single homeless person off the streets for good. It will not make a mentally ill person who should be in an institution any better. It will not help find a job for a responsible person who is willing to work.”<\/p>\n

In 2008, speaking before the Democratic Compassion Forum at Messiah College, Clinton reportedly said that in the face of suffering, God calls on us to respond.<\/p>\n

She added, \u201cFor whatever reason it exists, it\u2019s very existence is a call to action. You know, in my Judeo-Christian faith tradition, in both the Old and the New Testament, the incredible demands that God places on us and that the prophets ask of us, and that Christ called us to respond to on behalf of the poor, are unavoidable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Clinton continued, \u201cWe are just not doing enough. And it\u2019s a personal call; it\u2019s a family community, religious call; and it\u2019s a governmental call. And we\u2019ve got to do more to respond to that call.\u201d<\/p>\n

There was nothing clearly visible on Clinton\u2019s website specifically concerning homelessness<\/a>,\u00a0but she has a section devoted to her plan to combat alcohol and drug addiction<\/a>. They\u2019re both, of course, leading causes of homelessness.<\/p>\n

How would Bernie Sanders help the homeless?<\/h3>\n

On his website<\/a>, Bernie Sanders says that 3.5 million Americans homeless over the course of a year is a figure that needs to change.<\/p>\n

He added, \u201cIt is unacceptable that in one of the wealthiest countries in the world as many as 3.5 million Americans experience homelessness over the course of a year. In 2013, the Department of Housing and Urban Development estimated that on any given night, over 600,000 Americans are homeless. It is unacceptable that so many Americans are living on the streets. We must increase affordable housing and work to reduce homelessness among veterans.”<\/p>\n

A 2008 statement by Sanders on the Vote Smart website<\/a>\u00a0seemed to indicate a clear understanding of at least a portion of the problem of poverty and homelessness.<\/p>\n

He said, \u201cHomeless shelters are running out of beds. Food banks have depleted their supplies. Many elderly and poor people are in danger of going cold in their homes because the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program is running out of funds to help pay record-high heating bills. And very many of these are working people \u2026 There is a level of desperation not seen in many years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sanders does have a section dealing with poverty on his official website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Communicate in love<\/h3>\n

Whatever your political ideas, communicate them in love. It is God\u2019s grace and that love that\u00a0will change our country, not (as Biola University President Barry H. Corey says in his new book<\/a>) \u201cthe voices of barbed-wire Christians who are picking fights from pulpits, blogs, talk shows, town meetings or political platforms.\u201d<\/p>\n

Corey continued, \u2018Kindness is not anemic or convictionless. Rather, it has the power to influence others, revealing the truth and grace of the Christian faith far more than the insecurity of confrontational posturing.\u201d<\/p>\n

To that thought I give complete agreement, and hope you do also.<\/p>\n

Reynalds<\/a> is founder and CEO of Joy Junction Inc., a\u00a0faith-based nonprofit church organization dedicated to helping homeless men, women, children, and families in Albuquerque by providing food, clothing, shelter, and safety. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you read carefully and prayerfully, it might give you an idea on how heavily (or not) our nation\u2019s vulnerable lay on the hearts of our leading presidential contenders.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":153213,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1192,16],"tags":[708,139,146,226,116],"class_list":["post-153207","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-commentary","category-guest-columns","tag-2016-election","tag-albuquerque","tag-poverty","tag-presidential-race","tag-washington"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153207","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=153207"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153207\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/153213"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=153207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=153207"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=153207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}