Poor People Can Be Less Poor IF...

An Opinion Editorial

by Eric Stradford, U.S. Marine Corps, Retired

AMWS, September 26, 2018, Atlanta –  In the news today, a “gulf of distrust,” once assessed metaphorically, surfeits in the aftermath of an unnaturally man-made disaster.  49% of Americans are wading through the latest news cycle, watching 49% drown in the uncertainty of a manufactured truth.

Today, the often uncounted 2% is admonished to WAKE UP, and get busy hijacking a narrative likened to the air we breathe.  “The American Dream is on life support…” said Stephanie A. Walker Stradford.  The CEO for Youth Achievers USA Institute (YouthUSA) joined like minds at #Goalkeepers2018 to sandbag a surge of unprecedented, unnecessary, and useless information seeping into the national discourse.

Does it really matter that Donald Trump’s lawyer got stuck with $130,000 in hush money paid to a consenting porn star?  What about the sexual proclivities of “justice” be it Bill Cosby’s or the most recent supreme court nominee?  On the downlow, some rich folks have been padding their inherited pockets with favorable public policy while others must discover methods and means to reverse or “deny, deny, deny” their historically bad habits.

Recent polling suggests that people of all ages in low and middle-income countries are far more likely to agree that “my generation will have a more positive impact on the world than my parents” -- (63%) compared with people in higher income countries (39%). In both groups of countries, youth are more likely to agree than older people. 

When it comes to policy priorities, ending poverty (33%), improving education (31%), and access to jobs (27%) are top Sustainable Development Goals for leaders to focus on worldwide.

On Our Street, USA, today is the day to breathe and ask one another, why did it take us so long?  “Is poverty inevitable?” The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation echoes the sentiment of a 20th Century Poor People’s campaign with an optimistic twist.  In doing so, the thought provoking, “Where Do We Go From Here?” presented in Dr. Martin Luther King’s last book, arrives at the only clear choice – CHAOS or COMMUNITY.

 

Quoting social justice advocate Hyman Bookbinder, Dr. King wrote that ending poverty in America merely requires demanding that the rich “become even richer at a slower rate.”  But, in retrospect and after a plethora of policy perversions since Lyndon Johnson’s "War on Poverty,” demands on the wealthy tend to fall short of ending poverty.

Global Goals Week is an annual week of action where the United Nations and partners from around the world come together to drive action, raise awareness and hold leaders to account in order to accelerate progress to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), also known as the Global Goals.

Timed to coincide with the UN General Assembly, the week includes many exciting events and activations in New York but also around the world, including the Global Day of Action on September 25th, when people connected to cultivate ideas, identify solutions, and generate meaningful partnerships for the Global Goals.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Youth Achievers USA Institute share a common vision for the future.  Both believe that “investing in young people” is a necessary step towards achieving COMMUNITY.

To support its partnership goals, YouthUSA is recruiting, training and funding Community Asset Managers in 12 economic regions of the United States.  Virtual meetings and on-demand access to collaboration tools promote tech-supported, cost-effective operations.

According to the Gates Foundation, “Today’s booming youth populations can be good news for the economy; if young people are healthy, educated, and productive; and, there are more people to do the kind of innovative work that stimulates rapid growth.” At YouthUSA, “Money-n-the-Bank” supports inclusion. Each youth beneficiary invests seven goals to write a vision of their own future.

Much of the evidence published in Goalkeepers 2018 underscores the need for #EconomicInclusion of economically disadvantaged youth.  Bridging the “Gulf of Distrust” calls for Goalkeepers representing America’s haves and have nots to pursue “opportunities to serve -- catalyzing public and private sectors and civil society to establish and sustain a pathway to a better life for all.

Addressing gaps in economic opportunity ultimately empowers economic beneficiaries to participate in having the greatest impact. Working with partners who have the expertise and experience will be helpful in developing and implementing innovative approaches at scale. However, according to YouthUSA, “engagement of youth and communities will be essential to sustainable long-term solutions.”

Partnerships are as effective as the partners with a seat at the table.  The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is circling policy leaders around the global partnership through collaborations such as the US Partnership on Mobility from Poverty.

“People often frame the problem of poverty as a lack of things, of people not being given what they need.  But, I think it's the people who must be made to feel needed, vital, and productive in our changing economy.  It's about dignity,” said Arthur Brooks, president of the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) in Washington, DC.   

#EconomicInclusion calls for an intentional, prosocial approach.  It engages youth where they live, learn, work and or worship in developing their leadership skills.  It calls for caring adults to invest value and positive values toward prosperous futures.  It requires new energy, collective synergy and a shared commitment to make business as usual a practice of the past.  

National LEARN-2-EARN  invests collective synergy with new energy for win-win collaboration between neighbors in need and partners with means.   

Who will manage YOUR inheritance?

READY, WILLING and ABLE is YouthUSA’s standard for inclusion.  

Winners don’t quit. Quitters don’t win!

By Eric Stradford and Stephanie A. Walker Stradford

AMWS, August 15, 2018, Atlanta -- Some 118 applicants from the Cleveland and Atlanta Federal Reserve regions are among the first to ENGAGE as candidates for a PAID CONTRACTOR position.  Youth Achievers USA Institute is committed to raising “Whole Villages” of learners to ENGAGE as COMMUNITY ASSET MANAGERS (CAMs).

“Two-Percenter” capacity building targets candidates who are ready, willing and able to help youth in low income American families grow up less poor.  The successful contractor partners with an existing YouthUSA economic beneficiary or qualifies a new beneficiary to model economic fellowships where our beneficiaries live, learn, work and/or worship.

Any YouthUSA beneficiary, who has reached age 25, or caring adult stakeholder can become a paid contractor; or any youth or adult in a Whole Village may engage in selecting the first of 12 PAID CONTRACT COMMUNITY ASSET MANAGERS (CAMs).   

Candidates for the contract position are now engaged in fundraising to support 12 funded contract positions in 2019.  You can support this effort through a tax-deductible contribution of $5 or more to Youth Achievers USA Institute.

https://www.paypal.com/fundraiser/charity/2127276

From childhood we have watched

as everything our ancestors worked for—

their flocks and herds, their sons and daughters—

was squandered on a delusion.

Jeremiah 3:24

last chance to choose?

“We are now faced with the fact that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history there is such a thing as being too late. Procrastination is still the thief of time. Life often leaves us standing bare, naked and dejected with a lost opportunity.  This may well be mankind’s last chance to choose between chaos or community.” 

-        Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. “Where Do We Go From Here”

 

There’s still time to get something done as One Nation Under God.  But the house is divided over who can and how to make “Make America Great Again.”

By Eric Stradford, U.S. Marine Corps, Retired and Stephanie Walker Stradford

AMWS, July 23, 2017 – “There’s a choice we’re making, we’re #SavingOurOwnLives, and soon we’ll make a brighter day, just you and me.”   

Donald J. Trump, the President of the United States, demonstrated to millions “the betrayal of a trust or confidence--a breach of faith that might be considered by some as treachery.”  You may agree or you may disagree.  But, whether or not this publicly perceived infraction adds up to the high crime of treason is relative to one’s station within a government “of the people, by the people and for the people.” 

The U.S. Constitution defines impeachment at the federal level and limits impeachment to "The President, Vice President, and all civil officers of the United States" who may be impeached and removed only for "treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors".  Unless you are a member in the majority of the U.S. Congress, what you think does not count.  But, each American’s action resonates louder than the daily threat consuming our lives and livelihood.

Several commentators have suggested that Congress alone may decide for itself what constitutes a "high crime or misdemeanor", especially since Nixon v. United States stated that the Supreme Court did not have the authority to determine whether the Senate properly "tried" a defendant.  

"An impeachable offense is whatever a majority of the House of Representatives considers it to be at a given moment in history."   In 1970, then-House Minority Leader Gerald R. Ford defined this criterion for impeachment as he saw it.   Anybody who lived through America’s Watergate has to know that Ford’s criterion may have later proved to be somewhat self-serving.  Ford became the only president in recent years to ascend to the highest office in the United States of America without being elected.

#SavingOurOwnLives means every U.S. citizen is a beneficiary with all rights and shared responsibility.  Every citizen must vote if #WeThePeople are to form “a more perfect union.”   But, shared responsibility hardly begins and ends at the voting booth.  Elected representatives for #WeThePeople must legislate a spirit of law before, during and after that spirit is executed within the rule of law.

In a statement posted at WhiteHouse.gov, the reader was informed, “The Constitution of the United States of America is the supreme law of the United States.  Empowered with the sovereign authority of the people by the framers and the consent of the legislatures of the states, it is the source of all government powers and also provides important limitations on the government that protect the fundamental rights of United States citizens.”

Such a public assertion, witnessed by at least two people, may lay an evidentiary foundation for allegations of “high crimes and misdemeanors."  Diverse religious leaders from across the United States have stepped up to testify against the CHAOS they see threatening some 240 million American lives.   They know that “a kingdom divided against itself cannot stand—not God’s, not satan’s.  They are #ReclaimingJesus on behalf of 75% of the population and invoking the “sovereign authority of the people” to make sure nobody gets in the way.

United States Marines, standing watch over the highest office in the land, are not necessarily religious, but have been described as "religious-like." These "always faithful" souls are being called to do their duty.  

 #SavingOurOwnLives is the duty of top Marine Generals John Kelly, White House Chief of Staff; James Mattis, Secretary of Defense; Joseph Dunford, Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff; and Robert B. Neller, Commandant of the Marine Corps.  #SavingOurOwnLives is also the duty of Marine Robert Mueller, serving as special prosecutor investigating “high crimes and misdemeanors” stemming from a 2016 cyber-attack on the United States.  

America, it’s not enough to tell a veteran of the U.S. Armed Forces, “Thank you for your service.”  Every Duty Non-Commissioned Officer (past, present and future Duty NCOs) at every command will need to be engaged in doing their duty. #SavingOurOwnLives is their duty.  There is a process with respect to the laws governing members of the Armed Forces.  But if a terrorist threatens to “shoot someone on 5^th Avenue,” that terrorist needs to be reminded that action has consequences and no one is above the law.  We recognize that American Marines have been getting that message across since 1775. 

For the U.S. Marine on duty today, you’ll find the authority you need in your sixth general order.  In case you miss the word as it trickles down the ranks, GO VOTE like American lives depend it.  And, for perhaps the last time this year, you get a choice – CHAOS or COMMUNITY.

Any U.S. Marine that ever learned to walk from yellow footprints, respects the authority of the Duty NCO.  Eleven General Orders empower that non-commissioned officer to execute orders and instructions from superiors. 

But, what empowers the Duty NCO, witnessing CHAOS in front of a television, late at night, during a 24-hour news cycle.  You know you need to do something, but you just don’t know what it is.

That U.S. Marine standing watch needs to understand the “sovereign authority” of #WeThePeople.  Under “supreme law” governing “One Nation Under God,” the Duty NCO as well as the Commander-in-Chief is subject to the will of the people.  And, no one is above the law.

Although not present in the text of the U.S. Constitution, it is customary for modern presidents to say "So help me God" after the end of the oath.  The president’s acknowledgement of God as the “sovereign authority of the people” defines his station under “supreme law” governing “One Nation Under God.”  A statement at the White House website at one point in world history may have been considered blasphemy.   

And, yes, under truly supreme law, it may be considered treason or a high crime to betray a sworn oath of office.
  

Is there sufficient evidence of “a betrayal of a trust or confidence” and/or “a breach of faith?”  Evidenced by an eruption of CHAOS from public statements following a secret meeting with a known adversary, representatives of #WeThePeople need only an up or down vote in the U.S. House of Representatives.  

No way the framers of the U.S. Constitution foresaw a U.S. President colluding with porn-stars and playboy bunnies.  No way they ever intended for a U.S. President to be his own judge and jury.  This is evident by three equal branches of government to create a balance of power.  However, America’s politicians have repeatedly demonstrated a history of compromise.  American leaders even waged war to hold on to their “stuff” or more specifically, stolen land and stolen people.

What might have been an open and shut case in #KwanzaaCourt has undermined American Justice to a point of looking stupid.  A change in venue may be in order to ensure that #SavingOurOwnLives is achieved in the final verdict. 

#WeThePeople will need to decide what verdict brings us closer to a more perfect union--CHAOS or COMMUNITY?