Rogers still gets it right...

''Nobody who works full-time should have to raise children in poverty or in fear that one health emergency or pink slip will drive them over the cliff," said Edwards.

He's talking about working folks, who — even after working 40 hours a week — can't make ends meet, or are literally living from paycheck to paycheck. It's easy for those of us sitting on the sidelines to comment on how others should behave when our parents never worried about what or how we would be fed, if we could go to the doctor when we were sick, etc., etc., etc.

Hey Strother: For most Americans (I would assume you are included in this), the word “poverty” suggests destitution: an inability to provide a family with food, clothing, and reasonable shelter. However, only a small number of the 35 million persons classified as “poor” fit that description. Today, the typical American defined as "poor" by the government not only has a refrigerator, a stove, and a washing machine, but also has a car, air conditioning, a microwave, and a color TV. Let's put things in perspective here... Again, it's not material hardship that's the problem. The problem is that Edwards wants to go back to the programs that defined the traditional welfare state, which has failed miserably.

"In the U.S. — the wealthiest country in the world where a surprising amount of folks make around a thousand dollars a day — it's pretty sad that others that want to work and do work still can't afford to sufficiently provide for their families on the paltry wages they are paid... I often wish that all of those who can so easily empathize with the unborn would be equally empathetic of the born who are threatened by an unsympathetic world every day of their lives."

This country has spent over $7 trillion dollars in anti-poverty programs since the "war on poverty" started in '64. So far, that $7 trillion has subsidized poverty... Just because people like myself want to try another approach doesn't mean we care about the poor any less. Matter of fact, a case can be made that people who still insist on anti-poverty programs that have clearly shown do not work care more about their own egos than they do about truly helping the poor with the goal of moving people out of poverty toward a life of self-sufficiency.