Though we certainly feel the effects of these events strongly when they happen to us, their causes and effects are miniscule when compared to what happens outside our gates. Many people wait in line for hours to receive basic medical care that is oftentimes far worse than that provided by Student Health Services. Obesity and concurrent malnutrition are prevalent because fast food is cheap and grocery shopping, particularly if one tries to buy vegetables or higher quality chicken and fish, requires a capital outlay that a substantial part of our population cannot afford. Whereas most of us would think it a hardship if forced by economics to rent an apartment that offered only a dial-up connection, others find the cost of heat and electricity prohibitive.

It's difficult to approach the subject of socioeconomic inequalities without sounding hypocritical or preachy and making the middle and upper classes resentful. We all know that we should be thankful for what we have been given. On the other hand, we are not lazy or selfish. Our parents and ourselves work hard and we should not be made to feel guilty about possessing basic amenities like a warm coat or fresh fruit. We are therefore understandably resistant to explanations of poverty that place the moral and economic burdens solely on us.

It is this combination of resentment and good intentions that allows America to have the paltriest social net of any comparable country and the highest rate of independent charitable contributions. On the small scale of our communities and churches, we are willing to admit that poverty is by and large not the fault of the poor. We embrace the so-called deserving (i.e. working) poor, gladly helping them out with our gifts.

When sociologists and politicians start talking about faults within the system and the large-scale consequences of increasing inequities, the discourse of poverty changes. Suddenly, the issue turns into class warfare. The secret fear of the middle and upper classes is that if we admit that the larger system in which we have succeeded is imperfect, then we will also be found flawed. If the market changes, we who are winners might become losers.

This fear leads us to overreact, irrationally defending American market capitalism and ignoring some of its most obvious and grievous failings. We place the blame on the victim instead. The redistribution of wealth that we consider a moral imperative when done at Christmas by our churches becomes outright thievery, and the innocent children we gladly help become symbols of moral debasement.

To say that the American system is imperfect is not a rejection of capitalism or an automatic judgment on all who are not poor. Even if the middle and upper class situation is not as desperate as that of the poor, everybody faces the same basic problems: housing shortages, inflation, childcare costs, etc. Furthermore, we would all benefit from the productivity gained from decently fed and housed workers. Democratic society is not a zero-sum game.