By Anthony A. Cupaiuolo

Unlike most other advanced industrial countries, the United States has never developed a comprehensive social welfare system to address critical needs arising out of economic problems and changes attendant to modern society. Our responses tend to be episodic, half-hearted and often stigma laden. Public assistance excludes most adults without dependent children regardless of economic conditions; the United States has a higher percentage of children living in poverty than western European countries; approximately 45 million Americans lack health insurance and many others risk incurring huge debts if health costs exceed insurance payments; working parents often lack safe, affordable day care for their children.

There are many reasons why our country is out of step when it comes to meeting human needs, but chief amongst them is our emphasis on individual rather than communal responsibility regardless of the circumstances and our penchant for demonizing and scapegoating poor people. Former president Ronald Reagan was just one of many politicians and pundits who won favor by denouncing so-called "welfare queens" who allegedly drove Cadillacs and bought alcohol with their food stamps. Even without specifically mentioning race, the subtext clearly inferred that the overwhelming majority of poor people consisted of urban minorities too lazy to seek honest work.

While the majority of poor people have always been white, and rural poverty has been just as devastating as urban poverty, thanks to Sen. Bernie Sanders poverty has assumed a new public face. When Sen. Sanders suggested that Vermonters write to him about how they were coping in this troubling economy, I doubt if he could have anticipated the enormity of the response or the extensive publicity it would receive. Bob Herbert's June 14 New York Times column entitled "Letters From Vermont" included excerpts from heart-rending letters from ordinary Vermonters. Herbert regularly writes about how government policies fail to help the urban poor and to confront endemic institutional racism. This column, however, focused on Americans who had seen themselves as middle class but now faced worsening economic conditions with increasing dread.

The letter writers may have all been Vermonters, but their stories could have been told just as easily by Americans from all of the other 49 states who are experiencing economic hardships in the form of skyrocketing food, heat, and fuel costs while at the same time earning less and fighting to avoid losing their homes. A working mother lamented that there were nights when the only food she could serve her kids for dinner was toast and cereal; a senior couple ate only twice a day to conserve the little money they had; a mother of a nine year-old son burned the dining room furniture to heat their home.

The letters revealed far more than economic hardship; they vividly and poignantly captured the writers' fears, anxieties, and disillusion with the American dream as can be discerned from the following which was written by a man who described himself as a conscientious, hard working penny pincher but who still had to sell prized possessions to heat his home last winter.

"Today I am sad, broken, and very discouraged. I am thankful that the winter cold is behind us for a while, but now gas prices are rising yet once again. I just can't keep up."

Ample evidence exists of the worsening economic woes of ordinary citizens. For example: while the cost of food for what is considered a minimum nutritional diet has risen over 7 percent in the last year, food stamps, which help sustain many low income working families, will not increase in value until October; there are also reports that former donors to food banks are increasingly becoming recipients; and in some parts of the country an increasing number of children attend multiple schools in a school year, resulting in poor academic performance because of their parents' continual search for housing they can afford.

If economic conditions are not bad enough, worse news is on the horizon. States and municipalities, which represent $1.8 trillion of our $14 trillion economy, are about to trim their budgets which will result in more layoffs and diminished public services just when they are needed more than ever. While some states, notably Florida and California, will be hit the hardest, almost all will be affected including Vermont where tax revenues in May declined in most categories.

In considering our choice for president we will do well to consider who is most likely to insure that the federal government does a better job of helping those hard working Vermonters and fellow citizens throughout the country struggling to survive hard times, and who will also seek a stimulus package for states and municipalities to prevent cuts in essential services, to keep our infrastructure safe and sound, and to provide our economy with a much needed boost.

Anthony A. Cupaiuolo is a resident of Manchester.