Silence Can Kill: Speaking Up to End Hunger and Make Our Economy Work for Everyone - Book - Page 8
Foreword
by tapping into the profit motive to rev that engine, we as a society can be
blinded by greed and end up heading, full steam, in a direction not true to
our society’s values. So regulation is essential if the free market is to contribute to the common good even as it enriches individuals. Our national
budget is, therefore, a moral document.
It’s clear that Art Simon spends a lot of time thinking about hunger.
In this book, we consider dimensions that had never occurred to us. Art
notes that Congress can, in a spasm of fear and greed, incited by shrill media
voices, cut billions of dollars from food assistance for hungry Americans
(for example, ending SNAP, more than $60 billion in groceries). Art demonstrates that the very existence of hunger in the USA costs our society more
money than it would take to end hunger. Reading his book gives me—as a
reader, as a concerned citizen, and as a person with a Christian compassion
for the poor—empathy for the hungry and gets me excited about realistic
ways to tackle the problem.
In this book, Art Simon instills hope and seeks to unite us in this challenge to end hunger in the USA. That’s setting the bar high. But it can be
done. We are all part of “the body politic.” We are political whether we realize
it or not. When it comes to hunger, silence is a political act. Art reassures us
that, if you choose active citizenship and work to end hunger, compassion
and truth are an easier sell than greed and deceit, and that a societal spotlight
is more efficient and effective than a thousand points of light.
Lobbying our government is, in itself, neither good nor bad. It’s a question of what you are lobbying for. If you believe that hunger is bad, then
lobbying against it is good. But if you claim to care about the hungry and
then—in the privacy of the voting booth—elect leaders who do not support
economic justice, that’s a disconnect. An enlightened citizen knows that the
outcome of an election has a bigger impact on the poor than on the rest of
us. And knowing that makes how we vote a moral decision.
This book is both a powerful argument and a manual for making a difference. It offers a wise and insightful foundation for understanding the
whys and hows of effectively fighting hunger. Silence Can Kill moves us to
augment our charity by embracing advocacy.
Now read this book . . . and get to work!
Rick Steves
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