The Goat Rope

Faith statement opposing HB 5319 camping ban

2026-03-09T10:42:00.001-04:00

“The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also.” 1 John 4:20–21

Many followers of Christ across the state denounce HB 5319. Echoing the WV Council of Churches, we ask that legislators consider instead, “that the practice of the Christian faith calls us to minister to the homeless and others in economic distress through a variety of ministries including feeding, clothing, and housing programs.”

As followers of Christ, we believe in a God who created all beings and loves all creation. And in this nation full of plenty, Christians ask God to open our hearts so that when we see a person in need of a place to sleep, rather than wanting them to be disappeared into a jail cell, we look at them the way God would and ask, “How can I help?”

Instead of legislation that offers help, the WV House of Delegates passed HB 5319 on March 3^rd. Under the bill, anyone found in violation of the “camping ban” would first be given a written warning; second violation would subject the person to a misdemeanor and fined $200; and third violation would be punishable by a fine of up to $500 and/or incarceration in jail for up to 30 days.

Believing that homeless people are to blame for their plight allows us to sleep at night, pray with others in our faith, and tell ourselves that the people experiencing homelessness aren’t the ones for whom our sacred texts call on us to care.

Churches and congregations who serve the homeless understand that criminalizing homelessness and a human being’s fundamental need to sleep will not end homelessness.

In fact we are certain that HB 5319 will create a revolving door between homelessness and jail, prevent people from getting on a path to stable housing, and make it harder for service providers and law enforcement to focus on solutions that center human dignity. We cannot disappear human beings, nor expect that people experiencing homelessness have the money to pay any fine.

The solution to people sleeping outside and living in encampments is access to housing and the services they need to get better.

We ask that WV state senators roundly reject consideration of HB 5319, a bill that is antithetical to the life and teachings of Jesus Christ.

**If your judicatory, congregation, or ministry is willing to add its name in support, you can email Pastor Doug Dyson the new Executive Director of the WV Council of Churches at director@wvcc.org (quick turnaround with a March 10 deadline). Please include the name of your denomination, judicatory, congregation, or ministry organization, along with the city, as you would like it to appear.

Click here to send a message to your Senator.

Stop the war in Iran

2026-03-02T13:58:00.000-05:00

The AFSC issued this statement Saturday when the US launched it's war against Iran. You can take action by clicking here.

Today the U.S. and Israel launched an unprovoked war of aggression on Iran, dropping bombs on cities across the country and calling for regime change. While the death toll is not known, at least 80 children were killed after a strike on a girls’ school in southern Iran. Iran responded by firing missiles at Israel and U.S. military bases in Bahrain, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar. The Trump administration has said it will continue to bomb, and the death toll will surely continue to rise, with uncontrollable implications in the wider region.

As a Quaker organization, we know that war is never the path to peace. We mourn the deaths of all the victims, and we hold their loved ones and communities in the Light. We call on the U.S. and people across the world to take immediate action to stop this from escalating into an endless and global war.

This war is immoral and illegal under both U.S. and international law. The justifications used by the Trump administration all center on blatant lies. Iran has no long-range missiles that can reach the U.S. Iran had not restarted nuclear weapons production and likely lacks the immediate capacity to do so. The Iranian government has repeatedly said that it has no interest in nuclear weapons and has been willing to negotiate despite repeated U.S. escalations. The Trump administration refused to negotiate in good faith and cannot use the inevitable “failure” of those negotiations as an excuse for war. According to U.S. law, the president must seek congressional approval before engaging in hostilities against another country. Congress is set to vote on a War Powers resolution in a matter of days.

For years, the U.S. has been taking steps to increase the likelihood of nuclear war. The U.S. has let major nonproliferation treaties expire and is investing over $1 trillion in nuclear weapons over the next decade. The U.S. government is itself the greatest impediment to nuclear nonproliferation.

President Trump says he wants regime change in Iran. History shows us that regime changes imposed by imperialist violence are devastating failures even on their own terms. Attempting this in Iran would almost certainly require a protracted war with U.S. troops on the ground and significant casualties.

The U.S. is also pointing to Iran’s human rights record as justification for these attacks. The killing of thousands of protesters by the Iranian government is horrific, but waging war against Iran will not bring peace or human rights. The U.S. government cannot claim the moral high ground while it disappears people at home, restricts political rights, and pursues a policy of murder and assassination in Latin America. The U.S. has no credibility to talk about human rights after more than two years of supporting Israel’s genocide in Gaza and unilateral attacks on neighboring countries. Last year alone, Israel bombed Lebanon, Yemen, Syria, Iran, Qatar, and the occupied Palestinian territory.

Congress must act immediately to assert its authority and stop further killing. Congress must also act to reverse the Trump administration’s imperialist “might makes right” foreign policy. Since December 2025, the U.S. has attacked Nigeria, Venezuela, and Iran while also murdering alleged drug traffickers in the Caribbean and Pacific. All of these actions make the world less safe while undermining international law and key multilateral peacebuilding systems. The U.S.—not Iran—is currently the most significant threat to international peace and security.

But we cannot leave this to Congress alone. People should make their voices heard. Call Congress, take to the streets, protest, and engage in acts of nonviolent resistance to make it clear that the U.S. public does not stand behind this war. This moment demands all of us.

The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) promotes a world free of violence, inequality, and oppression. Guided by the Quaker belief in the divine Light within each person, we nurture the seeds of change and the respect for human life to fundamentally transform our societies and institutions. We work with people and partners worldwide, of all faiths and backgrounds, to meet urgent community needs, challenge injustice, and build peace.

A little good news...really

2026-02-19T16:59:00.000-05:00

(This exploited dog has had enough.)

If, like me, you're looking for good news anywhere you can find it, here's a bit: for the first time in many years, union membership grew in 2025. And yes, this happened in spite of the Trump administration's war on federal workers. Numbers were up by almost half a million (463,000 to be exact). The number of workers covered by a union contract grew from around 16 million to 16.5. Much of that gain is in the public sector, but there were gains in the private one as well.

That's still not enough. We desperately need changes in federal labor laws to make organizing easier and make it harder for employers to retaliate. And we need to roll back state anti-labor legislation, restoring prevailing wages for state and local projects, sending "right-to-work-for-less' laws back to their rightful place in hell, and rolling back legislation that defunds public education. Such policies are deliberately designed to reduce the bargaining power of workers and prevent organizing.

Still, it's a start. In the meantime, audacity and creativity by worker-organizers can prepare the way.

Two reasons to be in the reptile room tomorrow...

2026-02-18T14:25:00.000-05:00

Since 2018 AFSC has been a part of the West Virginia Council of Church’s Compassion Calls Us Day at the legislature. This year the call will be compassion for immigrants; people incarcerated; families without clean drinking water; and communities that would be impacted by proposed dirty, water guzzling data centers. We'll add our voices to the din in the upper rotunda. Come on down, you'll be in good company with Reverend Ron English, Bev Sharp, Reverend Cindy Briggs Biondi, Ryan Kirkpatrick and Reverend Caitlin Ware.

Also tomorrow at noon there will be a rally in the Attorney General's little rotunda when community members from Mingo, Logan, Mason, and Tucker counties will share their stories about how they stand to be impacted by proposed data centers, and why West Virginia cannot make the mistakes of the past.

Eduardo Galleano in Open Veins of Latin America wrote what is a pretty haunting mirror of our own history in Appalachia: "Our defeat was always implicit in the victory of others; our wealth has always generated our poverty by nourishing the prosperity of others." And so as the Zapatistas say: "¡Ya basta!"

No rollbacks on child labor

2026-01-27T20:40:00.002-05:00

(This column by Lida Shepherd was published today in the Charleston Gazette-Mail)

Welch, WV, September 1908

A quick peak into the National Archives you can find photographs by Lewis Hine when he was hired by the National Child Labor Committee (NCLC) in the early 1900s to take photos of children working. Hine’s photos were a part of a national campaign at the time to advance laws regulating child labor, which eventually paved the way for labor laws like the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Prior to FLSA, injuries and deaths of children were common. Many of the children photographed by Hine were working to help support their families living in extreme poverty. Some of these young kids in the photos worked in places like coal mines in Welch and the glass factory in Grafton.

A 1920 NCLC poster features Hine’s photos and reads: “Work that Deadens: These Children Are Working so that Their Employer May Make Money.”

The famed labor rights attorney Clarence Darrow said, “History repeats itself. That's one of the things wrong with history.” To his point, the West Virginia legislature has been advancing House Bill 4005 which would weaken child labor laws that many fought so hard over a century ago to enact.

HB 4005 would eliminate state rules that enumerate which jobs are too dangerous for minors. Under current state law industries cannot employ children under 18 in jobs like ore reduction works, logging and saw milling occupations, occupations involving exposure to radioactive substances, power-driven hoisting apparatus occupations, and mining, to name a few. The bill would also remove requirements for direct supervision when children work with hazardous machinery.

Proponents for legislation to roll back longstanding state-level child labor protections say that this is to better align with federal standards. As the word “standards” implies, federal law under the Fair Labor Standards Act is the floor not the ceiling. For example, federal child labor standards do not include time and hour restrictions for 16- and 17-year-olds, establish rest or meal break requirements, or require work permits for youth to be employed.

Proponents also try to paint this bill as expanding apprenticeship programs, however our state’s Youth Apprenticeship Programs already allow 16 and 17-year-olds to safely obtain on-the-job experience. And while we are on the subject of apprenticeship programs, I have to say that using the apprenticeship program argument for HB 4005 is pretty rich.

Many of those supporting this bill also pushed to repeal our state’s prevailing wage law in 2016. Since then, according to a report by the Midwest Economic Policy Institute, the number of active registered apprentices has fallen by 28 percent in West Virginia, relative to neighboring states with prevailing wage laws.

So who are the proponents of HB 4005? I’m really glad you asked. HB 4005 and other bills like it are a part of a coordinated national effort led by billionaire-backed groups like the Foundation for Government Accountability, to undermine worker rights and weaken government's role of protecting public safety and the most vulnerable.

Bills like HB 4005 are straight from the authoritarian playbook of Project 2025 where one of their policy objectives is to “amend its hazard-order regulations to permit teenage workers access to work in regulated jobs with proper training and parental consent.” In simple terms, changing “hazard-order regulations” means letting kids as young as 16 to work in hazardous jobs.

Project 2025 cynically suggests, “Some young adults show an interest in inherently dangerous jobs. Current rules forbid many young people from working in such jobs. This results in worker shortages in dangerous fields and often discourages otherwise interested young workers from trying the more dangerous job.”

The narrative suggesting that young people everywhere will now have the “opportunity” to gain important job experience could not be farther from the truth when you consider who is impacted by the deregulation of child labor. Since rollbacks around the country, more and more kids are being mangled or killed. A 16-year-old boy in Wisconsin died working in a sawmill after he became entangled in a machine, a teenage boy in Pennsylvania died after getting pulled into a woodchipper, and another teenage boy was maimed at a Perdue slaughterhouse in rural Virginia.

These are a few tragic examples among many, and each one of them underscores the fact that the children most subject to dangerous conditions are not looking for “opportunity” but they are looking to merely survive. Deregulating child labor laws allows industries unfettered access to a more exploitable workforce.

According to the Economic Policy Institute, at least sixteen states have now introduced cookie cutter legislation nearly identical to HB 4005. But take heart. West Virginia lawmakers have the power to stand up to these efforts to allow corporations to profit on the backs of our kids, even in the most dangerous jobs. They don’t have to put West Virginia on the race to the bottom where the laws privilege profit over protections for our kids and their families.

They can be clear-eyed enough to see that HB 4005 is as the Economic Policy Institute says is part of “a massive and generational project to remake the economy into one that gives corporations license to extract exorbitant profits from increasingly unregulated and dangerous child labor.”

Lewis Hine wrote in 1908 about his experience taking photos of children working, "There is work that profits children, and there is work that brings profit only to employers.”

If our legislators truly prioritize the safety and well-being of our kids, they’ll find the political will to leave our child labor laws alone, and prevent history from repeating itself.

In loving memory of Jane

2026-01-23T12:56:00.000-05:00

Rick and I were really sad and stunned earlier this week when we heard the news that a long time friend Jane Hearne died unexpectedly. Over the years we got to enjoy time with Jane and her husband Gene at WV Friends gatherings. Jane had a quiet strength I always admired. She reminds me of the sun in Aesops fable, when the sun and the wind compete to see who is stronger, and the sun with its steady warmth wins. Jane made you want to hear what she had to say, but it was always an invitation. She delighted in sharing about her prolific garden, and time around the dining table with her grandkids. She struck a graceful balance between delighting in the joys of life and a strong stance against what keeps so many from doing so too. I will miss Jane a lot. I love imagining her spirit eternally around her garden, and shining through the lives of her kids and grandkids. You can read her obituary here.

Jane’s daughter Carrie Ella reached out to Rick and me and said she was a long-time reader of the Goat Rope. So with that I’ll be writing the next installment soon, and inspired by Jane, I’ll try to find that balance between joy and outrage. The legislature is in town so it might tip the scale a wee bit towards outrage, but I think Jane would understand.

Looking for light

2026-01-20T15:47:00.002-05:00

This piece was written by AFSC colleagues Lewis Webb, Amy Gottlieb, and myself about looking for light in dark times on the occasion of the observation of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

In 1968, during his “I’ve Been to the Mountain Top” speech, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. shared:

“The nation is sick; trouble is in the land, confusion all around. ...But I know, somehow, that only when it is dark enough can you see the stars. And I see God working in this period of the twentieth century. Something is happening in our world. The masses of people are rising up. And wherever they are assembled today, whether they are in Johannesburg, South Africa; Nairobi, Kenya; Accra, Ghana; New York City; Atlanta, Georgia; Jackson, Mississippi; or Memphis, Tennessee, the cry is always the same: 'We want to be free.’”

Today, it is dark enough to see the stars. The Trump administration’s attacks on immigrants, working people, and democracy itself have brought us to this dark moment. But in that darkness, there are stars that shine with love, flicker with hope, and guide us toward freedom.

In communities standing up for immigrants nationwide, that light is unmistakable. Thousands of people are on the front lines every day—documenting ICE abuses and violence; accompanying immigrants to school, medical appointments, court hearings, and immigration check-ins, and speaking up to demand humane immigration policies. Even in cities that have been directly targeted by militarized government forces, people have shown that they are willing to confront armed, masked officers to protect their neighbors and communities. They are proving what we know to be sure: our communities are stronger with immigrants.

As Dr. King wrote in his Letter from Birmingham Jail:

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. Never again can we afford to live with the narrow, provincial ‘outside agitator’ idea. Anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered an outsider anywhere within its bounds.”

In the struggle for economic justice, communities are building power through both advocacy and direct action. Trump’s budget bill made drastic cuts to health care and food assistance while giving more tax breaks to the wealthy. But a majority of people in the U.S. support a different path that ensures all people can thrive. According to recent polls, most people support labor unions and increasing the minimum wage. There’s also strong support for affordable child care and housing, debt-free education, and Medicare for All. But people aren’t just advocating for change—they’re creating it. They’re forming mutual aid networks to share resources and meet each other’s immediate needs when the government won’t.

As Dr. King demanded in 1967:

“Let us be dissatisfied until the tragic walls that separate the outer city of wealth and comfort from the inner city of poverty and despair shall be crushed by the battering rams of the forces of justice.”

In working for peace and justice, communities are resisting authoritarianism and violence in all its forms.

People of faith are holding vigils to bear witness to oppression and affirm the power of love when put into action. Young people are protesting attacks on their rights and civil liberties on campuses and in the streets across the country. With our voices and votes, we are demanding our elected officials defend the rule of law and democratic principles. Together, we are building nonviolent movements that prove real security comes from caring for one another, not through violence or force.

This is the “garment of destiny” Dr. King described. We are all tied together, and what affects one affects us all. The way forward requires us to keep building these connections, to understand our struggles are shared, and to protect and care for each other in all we do.

In 1965, Dr. King said: “We must come to see that the end we seek is a society at peace with itself, a society that can live with its conscience.”

We are building that society now—through every act of accompaniment, every demand for justice, every refusal to give in to authoritarianism. The stars are visible. Our path is clear.

Hope in dark times?

2026-01-09T14:20:00.000-05:00

by Lida Shepherd, director AFSC WV Economic Justice Project

I was listening recently to an interview with Rebecca Solnit, purveyor of “Hope in the Darkness” and she was talking about how hope doesn’t come from ignoring reality, it comes from honesty. With that in mind I will refrain from any “happy new year” greetings, because it has been a gut-punching and despair-inducing new year thus far.

ICE agents killed Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis, our country dropped bombs on Venezuela, ICE agents are disappearing people from our communities in West Virginia and around the country --- meanwhile billionaires are looking to rake in more even more profit as stocks are up for weapons manufacturers and oil companies like Chevron.

Feeling like we are in the inescapable grip of the merchants of misery is enough to make you weep. While there is a lot about which to feel really really uncertain, here is Solnit again: “Uncertainty leads to possibility: Despair often assumes the future is fixed. But history is full of surprises and turning points.”

I’ve been re-reading these days about nonviolence resistance and strategy in the face of authoritarianism (for obvious reasons), how the overreach of tyrannical regimes can actually provide those turning points, and how people always have more power than we might feel.

Solnit has instructive advice for tamping down the anguish that we might feel right now: “Connect with others: Hope grows when it’s shared. Joining movements, communities, or simply leaning on friends creates a sense of belonging and power.”

To that end here are ways to connect with others around West Virginia who care as much as you do:

Follow ICE watch activity in WV here.

Tonight (1/9) in Charleston

Tonight in Keyser

Sunday (1/11) in Clarksburg

Monday (1/12) at the WV Capitol

Wednesday (1/14) in Charleston

If all that weren’t enough, the WV State Legislature kicks off next Wednesday, January 14th. Here are some Advocacy Days to note (full list here):

1/19: Fairness WV Day

2/17: Local Food and Farm Day

2/23: WV Environmental Day

2/24: Black Policy Day

3/2: Leading for Justice Day

3/4: WV Library Day

3/6: Reproductive Rights Day

Kenny and I hope to see some of you around “the well” at the Capitol, where commiseration is had and gossip is shared. In the meantime, I’ll try to remember what Solnit says about practicing hope daily: “Some days hope comes easily; other days it doesn’t. That’s normal. Journaling, noticing progress, limiting bad news, and showing up in community are all ways to keep practicing.”

No to another war

2026-01-05T15:12:00.000-05:00

When the world learned of the Trump administration's aggression this weekend, the American Friends Service Committee released this statement.

Early this morning, the Trump administration bombed several locations in and around Caracas and forcibly captured President Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores. This unjustified, illegal, and unprovoked act of war against a sovereign nation comes after months of U.S. escalation – including the extrajudicial assassinations of civilians on boats and the U.S. seizure of oil tankers near the Venezuelan coast. President Trump announced that the U.S. will “run the country” until some undefined transition—a path to indefinite occupation or a return to corporate control and colonial extraction.

The U.S. attack on Venezuela comes as the Trump administration revitalizes a long history of U.S. violence and imperialism against nations and people in Latin America. Like other wars before it, this is about control over oil and resources—Venezuela has the world’s largest proven oil reserves. Congress and the international community must take immediate action.

Venezuela posed no threat to the U.S. But the U.S. wants Venezuela’s oil. This attack was an act of war that is illegal under both U.S. and international law. While information is limited about the impacts, it is extremely likely that civilians were killed when the U.S. dropped bombs on the highly populated capital city. Congress should immediately act to condemn this aggression and should block further military actions.

The administration first said this violence was about drugs and democracy. Now the administration is expanding its justifications, openly claiming the U.S. has the right to overthrow Venezuela’s government and take the country’s nationalized oil. These shifting justifications expose the imperialist nature of the attack. They’re also absurd coming from an administration that has systematically undermined democracy at home, cut drug treatment programs, and dismantled systems to hold drug traffickers accountable.

The Trump administration doesn’t care about human rights and democracy. President Trump has actively intervened in recent elections in Argentina and Honduras, attempted to interfere in the Brazilian judicial system, and rewarded the blatant human rights violations of allies with lucrative contracts. There is no doubt that Nicolás Maduro is responsible for serious human rights violations against the Venezuelan people, and he should be held accountable for those violations. Being unilaterally kidnapped by the U.S. military will prevent that accountability rather than facilitating it.

This isn’t about drugs. Bombing Venezuela and arresting its leader will do nothing to stop drug trafficking, addiction, and overdose deaths. And the Trump administration only talks about ending the drug trade when it fits their political goals. Just two months ago, Trump pardoned former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernandez, who had been convicted in a U.S. court for smuggling 400 tons of cocaine into the U.S.

We have decades of evidence that the bipartisan “war on drugs” is a failure that has led to the mass incarceration of millions of poor people and people of color in the U.S., escalated violence and repression in Latin America, all while overdose deaths have soared. If the Trump administration wanted to address addiction, it would invest in community-based treatment and prevention. Instead, they are cutting these programs.

U.S. bombs and guns never bring peace and justice. As a Quaker organization that has worked to end war and violence for more than a century, AFSC has worked ceaselessly to stop U.S. militarism in Latin America and around the world. In the 1980s, AFSC witnessed firsthand the impact of U.S. military intervention in Latin America. We documented the violence in El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Guatemala and offered support and solidarity to those facing repression. Instead of bringing stability, the U.S. fueled conflict that killed and disappeared hundreds of thousands and displaced millions. It perpetuated cycles of violence, forced migration, and deep poverty that persist today.

It is time to break this cycle. It is long past time to end the U.S. government’s imperial ambitions in Latin America and across the globe. People do not want endless wars, which lead only to mass death, forced migration, and impoverishment. We must work in solidarity with the Venezuelan people, upholding their self-determination and human rights. And we must honor those rights whether people stay in the country of their birth or migrate to the U.S.

We call on Congress and world leaders to stop U.S. regime change in Venezuela. We need investments in our communities and a safe and sustainable world where everyone can thrive.

Reconsidering the definition of crime

2025-12-17T16:36:00.004-05:00

I’ve been thinking lately the definition of crime—or at least the way it’s treated—is kind of relative. The consequences of a harmful act differ widely depending on the social and economic position of the person or group that does the harm.

Corporations and CEOs whose safety shortcuts harm or kill workers on the job usually get away with it, while working class and poor people do serious time for minor offenses.

Some wealthy people cash in on subsidies for industries that damage water, land, wildlife, and public health… but a poor person can get nailed for littering (not that I’m in favor of littering).

Executives at financial institutions whose predatory practices have wiped out families’ life savings have gotten huge bonuses, while petty theft is often punished.

Woody Guthrie summed this up in his Ballad of Pretty Boy Floyd, about a Depression-era robber who became a kind of folk hero:

Yes, as through this world I've wandered

I've seen lots of funny men;

Some will rob you with a six-gun,

And some with a fountain pen.

To bring Woody up—or down—to date, I’d also have to say that some will kill with a weapon and some with a vote or a policy decision. And it’s happening here and now.

We can start with the impact of cuts to health care in the Big Brutal Bill (not counting the hardships caused by the recent shutdown). Earlier this year, public health officials from Yale and the University estimated that cuts to Medicaid and other health programs would cause 51,000 U.S. deaths per year when fully implemented.

Specifically, the researchers estimate that 42,500 lives could be lost each year from disenrollments in Medicaid and Marketplace coverage and the rollback of nursing home staffing rules. An additional 8,811 deaths are projected from the expiration of the enhanced Affordable Care Act (ACA) Premium Tax Credits, bringing the total to more than 51,000.

That doesn’t count collateral damage of the current government shutdown or collateral damage done by cuts to other programs such as food assistance or the ongoing damage caused by hospital closings, job losses, debt, stress, and economic insecurity.

To quote Bishop William Barber, “We have to start talking about this budget as a form of social and political murder, social and political deadliness, because they know. And the reason I use the word ‘murder’ is because they know that it’s going to cause death.”

Then there are the even greater number of premature deaths that are already starting to happen in the world’s less wealthy nations due to cuts in USAID food and health assistance since the agency was effectively killed this year, with the majority in congress supporting still more cuts to spending already allocated.

No program is perfect, but a study of USAID work over the past 21 years published in the British medical journal The Lancet showed that it really was working before it was gutted.

During those years when it was functioning, the researchers found a 15 percent decrease in mortality rates by all causes and a 32 percent decrease in children dying under age five. That amounts to helping around 91 million people overall and more than 30 million kids.

This includes a 65 percent reduction in mortality from HIV/AIDS, representing 25.5 million lives saved; 51 percent from malaria, or 8 million; neglected diseases, for around 9 million; as well as decreases in death caused by tuberculosis, nutritional deficiencies, respiratory infections, and maternal and perinatal conditions. These beneficial effects were felt in dozens of countries. Between 2017 and 2000, the program provided assistance in 240 natural disasters and crises.

That was then; this is now. According to forecasting models used by the Lancet author, the cuts will result in more than 14 million additional all-age deaths, including over 4.5 million children under five by 2030.

Compared to these numbers, movie bad guys seem like amateurs.

And none of this had to happen. We’re not like dinosaurs hit by a meteor or medieval peasants suffering from famine through a crop failure or plague victims who haven’t figured out how to wash their hands. All of these deaths could have easily been prevented, And many of our leaders who could have helped block this went along with it.

Washing one’s hands of innocent suffering didn’t do much for the reputation of Pontius Pilate… and I doubt it will for others in the long run.

This piece by was originally published on December 12, 2025 in the Charleston Gazette-Mail.

Shutdown hunger games

2025-11-07T16:16:00.003-05:00

Over a century ago Will Rogers, famous for both his acting and pithy social commentary, quipped, “Ten men in our country could buy the whole world, and ten million can’t buy enough to eat.” Were he alive today, he would have to amend it to say that while 10 men can still buy the whole world, 42 million can’t buy enough to eat.

Because President Trump, while hosting a lavish “Great Gatsby” themed party at his resort in Mar-a-Lago, directed the U.S. Department of Agriculture to withhold SNAP benefits from 42 million children, veterans, and seniors, all while boasting about his new marble bathrooms and gilded ballroom.

These kinds of gross displays of extreme wealth against a backdrop of desperate poverty have become a common feature of American life today. A cursory look at how some of the richest people are presently fairing gives us a sense.

Jim Walton, heir to the Walmart fortune, saw his wealth rise by192 per cent since Trump’s corporate tax breaks were enacted in 2017. According to Americans for Tax Fairness, this translates to an additional $80 million in just eight years for Jim Walton.

By contrast, a young woman working as a cashier at Walmart recently told me that she was worried about how she is going to feed her nine-month-old baby after WIC benefits were taken away. She said she works as much as she can at $11 an hour, but her Walmart wages are not enough to afford formula and food, so she relies on WIC to ensure her baby is getting enough to eat. Accounting for inflation she is making even less in real wages over the same time period Mr. Walton’s fortunes have skyrocketed.

How do we understand the level of precarity facing millions of people like her when today America’s 916 billionaires have now amassed $8 trillion, a 172 per cent increase since the enactment of the 2017 Trump tax law?

Joseph Stiglitz gives an answer from his perspective as a Nobel prize winning economist. In The Price of Inequality: How Today's Divided Society Endangers Our Future he points out, “There are two ways to become wealthy: to create wealth or to take wealth away from others. The former adds to society. The latter typically subtracts from it, for in the process of taking it away, wealth gets destroyed.” From this perspective, the extraction of wealth from working people is what is fueling today’s extreme levels of poverty and wealth inequality.

This extraction and concentration of wealth is made possibly by the policy decisions made by those in power, and to that, Will Rogers has a related quip: “America has the best politicians money can buy.” As illustration, West Virginia’s entire congressional delegation voted for the “Big Brutal Bill” which permanently extended Trump’s 2017 corporate tax cuts, partly paid for by cutting health care and food access for West Virginians and other struggling Americans.

Yes the Federal Government is still shut down as President Trump and our representatives in Washington refuse to side with Democrats and restore the premium tax credits that allow West Virginians to access health care. Even so, the Administration can designate contingency and carryover funds to keep SNAP running, as the USDA has done during previous shutdowns. It can also transfer funds from other accounts to make up any shortfall.

In open letter to West Virginia’s four senators and representatives and signed by over 40 food banks, churches, and advocacy groups, they stated, “Allowing SNAP and WIC payments to lapse and hunger to deepen during a shutdown is a policy choice and a preventable cruelty.”

These same groups also requested that each of our senators and representatives sit down as soon as they can with West Virginians who are experiencing the crushing stress of whether or not they will have enough food for their loved ones to eat.

If our leaders continue to prioritize wealthy donors and the corporate elite over the thousands of West Virginians struggling to afford health care and food, then you can count on Will Rogers for some final words of wisdom: “The short memories of the American voters is what keeps our politicians in office.” So let us not forget next time.

This column by Lida Shepherd, director of the American Friends Service Committee WV Economic Justice Project, appeared in today's Charleston Gazette-Mail.

2025-07-21T15:17:00.000-04:00

(Note: this article appeared in Waging Nonviolence)

As people across the United States face massive cuts to Medicaid, SNAP and other vital programs, many are asking: What happens when the systems we rely on fail us? And what happens when our communities are torn apart by toxic inequality, political fragmentation and declining social trust?

The solution may lie in something that humans have been doing throughout our existence: taking care of each other, often without realizing it. Today that’s what some of us call the “solidarity economy.”

I first heard the term in late 2008, and I wasn’t impressed. I believe the term I used might have been something like “boutique-y.”

Those were different times. After the George W. Bush era ended, the idea of painstakingly building positive local economic alternatives to exploitative systems seemed far less promising than the direct route of pushing for massive changes in public policies.

It seemed to me then that windows to achieve major changes were about to open. My heart was set on reforming labor laws to make union organizing easier, approaching universal health care, domestic spending to counter the Great Recession and climate action.

Some of those opportunities were squandered, but it wasn’t all a waste. There were gains in health care, stimulus spending and child nutrition. And a lot of things didn’t get much worse for a while. But those same windows to affect positive policy change tend to be shut more often than open.

Beyond the rock

As we’re seeing today, the gains of the past can be undone. I am often reminded of Sisyphus and his rock. Over time, I’ve come to realize that while policy struggles and resistance are more necessary than ever, repeatedly rolling the rock up the hill only to see it roll down aren’t the only options. Positive alternatives to the dominant system that help people meet basic needs and relate to each other in new ways started making a lot more sense.

The New Economy Coalition defines the solidarity economy as “a global movement to build a just and sustainable economy where we prioritize people and the planet over endless profit and growth.”

According to the U.S. Solidarity Economy Network, which emerged out of the 2007 U.S. Social Forum, the principles of this new economy include: solidarity, cooperation and mutualism, equity in all dimensions, participatory democracy, sustainability and pluralism.

Examples include Indigenous approaches to survival and sustainability, cooperatives, community land trusts, credit unions, peer lending, mutual aid, community-led economic development, bartering, community-supported agriculture and fair-trade products. They can also be found in the informal ways in which family, friends and neighbors come together all the time to help each other.

A concrete informal example: I live on a dead-end one-lane country road in rural West Virginia. When a tree falls across it, the first person who is able shows up with the chainsaw to clear the road. If someone has a wood stove, they catch a break. When bad weather hits — an increasingly frequent event — people check on each other. When a garden is abundant or chickens lay a lot of eggs or a hunter has good luck, these things are shared. We even look out for each other’s dogs. This support cuts across potential lines of disagreement on contentious issues, of which we may have a surplus.

It’s the kind of thing that goes on just about everywhere, just about all the time, but we often don’t recognize or articulate it. But it’s more important than ever these days.

Why now?

First, we are facing a historical shredding of the social safety net and an unprecedented transfer of wealth from the working class and poor to the ultra rich. While local economic alternatives are no substitute for SNAP, free school meals or Medicaid, they can help people meet basic needs at least to some degree — and possibly provide opportunities to resist and organize for a better future.

Second, these alternatives can help rebuild social connections. It’s been 25 years since Harvard sociologist Robert Putnam published “Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community,” but I still find many of the ideas expressed there to be relevant.

Putnam’s main thesis was that social capital — all the formal and informal ways in which people interact — has declined in recent decades, and that’s a problem. His research suggested that communities and individuals with more dense networks of social capital are healthier and more able to solve social and personal problems.

He identified two main kinds of social capital: bonding and bridging. Bonding social capital occurs within like-minded groups, while bridging can link diverse groups together. Both have their place, but bridging can bring in new people, new ideas and wider possibilities.

In “Bowling Alone,” Putnam placed a lot of blame for the decline of social capital on suburbanization, long commutes and mass media. Throw in more recent trends such as extreme inequality, political hostilities, inflamed rhetoric, social media echo chambers, smartphone absorption and the lingering effects of COVID-imposed isolation and the results are toxic. Family, former friends and allies often wind up polarized.

Aside from the traditional division between left and right, weird new political tendencies have emerged, blending themes from both with a strong ingredient of conspiratorial thinking. Naomi Klein referred to this phenomenon as “diagonalism” in her recent book “Doppelganger.”

To paraphrase William Butler Yeats’ prescient poem “The Second Coming,” the center does not hold.

Reweaving

For these reasons, economic impacts aside, I’ve come to believe that solidarity economy efforts, great and small, can help reweave the social fabric.

Farmers markets, which have nearly tripled in my home state since 2019, are a perfect example of how a once marginal economic alternative has gone mainstream, with benefits beyond fresh food and cash in farmers’ pockets.

“One sociologist calculated that people have 10 times as many conversations at the farmers’ market than they do in the supermarket,” Michael Pollan wrote in an essay for the New York Review of Books. “Socially as well as sensually, the farmers’ market offers a remarkably rich and appealing environment. Someone buying food here may be acting not just as a consumer but also as a neighbor, a citizen, a parent, a cook. In many cities and towns, farmers’ markets have taken on (and not for the first time) the function of a lively new public square.”

Imagine the possible positive effects if there was a similar growth for other solidarity economy models. Every such effort could be a training ground for new ways of cooperating and communicating while also building a more just and sustainable future.

Baby steps

Here are some ideas about how we can build the solidarity economy:

De-commodify what we can. Not everything has to be subject to money — but even if it is, profit maximization doesn’t have to be the only goal. Think flea markets, yard sales and livestock swaps. Experiment with formal or informal mutual aid practices. These can include bartering, sharing time, resources and skills, and receiving help yourself. Rediscover the ancient gift economy in ways as simple as little free libraries or “blessing boxes” with free food.

Consider self-provisioning. Are there things we can do, make, share or grow for ourselves and others? Possibilities include arts and crafts, music, gardening, preserving food, making beverages, raising chickens, do-it-yourself projects and knitting.

Think about where the money goes. Consider moving it from big predatory banks to credit unions or locally-owned financial institutions. When possible, spend yours on locally and sustainably produced goods and services and fair-trade items, preferably made and distributed by union labor. Buy from worker-friendly businesses. When possible, buy food from local small farmers.

Support cooperative or alternative enterprises — or consider starting one. Worker, consumer and housing co-ops and community land trusts can be a way to meet basic needs and support economic democracy.

Research more possibilities. There are a huge number of resources and organizations that can help you learn more and find a niche to support this growing movement. Check out the websites of the U.S. Solidarity Economy Network and RIPESS, an intercontinental social solidarity economy network.

Show up. One thing that Americans are pretty good at across the political spectrum is showing up for neighbors and strangers when misfortunes and disasters happen. Unfortunately, we’re going to see a lot more opportunities to do that as extreme weather events escalate. As much as we’d prefer to prevent such events, they can shock us into new ways of relating and often bring out our best. In “A Paradise Built in Hell: The Extraordinary Communities That Arise in Disaster,” Rebecca Solnit wrote, “It’s tempting to ask why if you fed your neighbors during the time of the earthquake and fire, you didn’t do so before or after.”

Break out of the bubble. Mix, mingle, talk and most importantly listen respectfully with people outside our usual circles or comfort zones.

For this kind of economy to grow, however, there need to be easy on-ramps for people with diverse backgrounds and opinions to engage in these alternatives. I’m convinced that the more people experience the humanizing benefits of direct connections and mutual support, the more bridges can be built in the future.

We can learn by doing. As the saying goes, we can act our way into different ways of thinking more easily than we can think our way into new ways of acting.

Statement on big brutal bill

2025-07-08T11:39:00.004-04:00

The American Friends Service Committee issued this statement on the occasion of the signing of the federal bill that will cut taxes for the wealthy and take food and health care away from millions of low-income and working class Americans.

Today, President Donald Trump signed a bill that will initiate one of the largest ever transfers of wealth from the working class to the rich. It will strip health care coverage from millions of low-income people, deprive children of food, accelerate climate change, and funnel billions to military contractors for weapons that threaten human survival.

To say we oppose this legislation is an understatement. As a Quaker organization, we believe all people contain the Light of God within us. These policies abandon our fundamental commitment to caring for all people and the Earth that we share. If unchallenged, this legislation will directly and indirectly contribute to the suffering and death of so many people in the U.S. and around the world.

The bill includes:

The largest cuts to public health care in U.S. history, leaving an estimated 17 million people without health coverage and causing an estimated 51,000 premature deaths per year.

New restrictions on SNAP and other anti-hunger programs, which will deprive millions of children of basic nutrition and the opportunities they need to succeed.

Trillions of dollars in tax cuts that provide almost nothing for the poor and working class, while showering the wealthiest households in the U.S. with massive benefits.

New subsidies for fossil fuel corporations while slashing tax credits for renewable energy projects.

More than $150 billion on the Pentagon for its forever wars and wasteful projects.

Billions for cruel anti-immigrant policies that tear our families and communities apart, including expanding detention centers and adding thousands more ICE and Border Patrol agents.

We cannot and will not accept this anti-human framework as the new status quo. Our government should provide for public needs, not transfer billions from the poor and working class to the rich. Already, protests and acts of resistance have been taking place across the country in response to the anti-democratic, anti-working class, anti-immigrant policies of the Trump administration. As the impacts of this legislation are felt nationwide, this resistance will only grow.

Everyone deserves access to health care, housing, freedom from violence, and the ability to participate in the decisions that impact our lives. While Congress, the courts, and the president have chosen to pursue policies that harm our communities, we can care for and defend one another. We call on all people – in the corridors of power and in every corner of this country – to reject and resist these policies and to work for the future we all deserve.

Medicaid cuts...people will die

2025-06-17T14:02:00.003-04:00

Eight years ago, when the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was up for repeal, then-Governor Jim Justice and Senator Capito helped walk the nation back from the brink.

Justice described the consequences of undoing Medicaid expansion, which covered around 175,000 West Virginians at the time, as “beyond catastrophic.” Capito said that “I have serious concerns about how we continue to provide affordable care to those who have benefitted from West Virginia’s decision to expand Medicaid, especially in light of the growing opioid crisis.”

They were right then and still are today.

Recently, public health experts from Yale University and the University of Pennsylvania calculated the butcher’s bill that would happen if the House version of the budget bill passes as is and it’s pretty awful. They estimate that proposed Medicaid cuts could cause 51,000 premature deaths per year, just to pay for tax cuts for the rich.

That’s more than the combined populations of Calhoun, Tucker, Gilmer, Pleasants, Doddridge, Pocahontas, and Clay counties. Or several thousand more than the populations of either Charleston or Huntington.

According to the Yale School of Public Health, “The researchers estimate that 42,500 lives could be lost each year from disenrollments in Medicaid and Marketplace coverage and the rollback of nursing home staffing rules. An additional 8,811 deaths are projected from the expiration of the enhanced Affordable Care Act (ACA) Premium Tax Credits, bringing the total to more than 51,000.

To be specific, 7.7 million people would lose Medicaid or ACA marketplace coverage, with a loss of an estimated 11,300 deaths per year.

Eliminating the Medicare Savings Program would disenroll 1.38 million seniors, at a cost of 18,200 deaths per year.

Ending nursing home staffing rules could cost 13,000 lives.

Ending ACA premium tax credits is likely to push another 5 million off, at a cost of over 8,800 preventable deaths a year.

In addition, the bill’s failure to extend the ACA’s enhanced premium tax credits is expected to push another 5 million Americans into uninsurance, resulting in 8,811 more deaths each year.

This isn’t a matter of random number generation. According to Yale, researchers relied on peer-reviewed studies that “quantifying the relationship between insurance coverage, access to prescription drug subsidies, and nursing home staffing levels with all-cause mortality.” This data was then applied to projections released in May by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

Recently, Iowa Representative Joni Ernst stirred up controversy by dismissing concerns like these, saying “we are all going to die.”

Maybe so. But working class people don’t have to die prematurely in the tens of thousands every year just to enrich the wealthiest.

This is totally preventable.

(This appeared as an op-ed in the Charleston Gazette-Mail.)

Big bad ugly bill

2025-06-04T14:03:00.003-04:00

British author and poet George Orwell wrote in his 1946 essay Politics and the English Language, “In our time, political speech and writing are largely the defense of the indefensible.”

While confronting the monstrosity of the so-called “big beautiful bill” that recently passed the House of Representatives, one might imagine Orwell hollering at us from the past, “Did I call it or what?”

If this bill didn’t have life or death implications for millions of Americans, we could almost laugh at the recent image of moneyed politicians, victorious after the bill narrowly passed the House, their pockets lined with corporate cash, standing behind a sign that reads: “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.”

But nothing funny nor beautiful can be found in a bill that adds trillions of dollars to the national debt, strips health care and food assistance away from millions of Americans, all to pay for an extension of tax cuts, the lion’s share of which benefit the wealthiest one per cent.

How could we be fooled into not seeing that this budget bill is what economics columnist for the Washington Post Catherine Rampell calls “a transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich”?

At over 1,000 pages, I’ll concede that the bill is big, which is by design. The sheer volume of it, the number of programs and tax policies it touches makes it difficult for most of us to understand all the implications of a budget bill this size. My friend and colleague with American Friends Service Committee Rick Wilson has often quipped, “Taxes and budgets are boring. Breathing is boring too until someone starts choking you, in which case it’s fascinating.”

We should be fascinated – and equally horrified - by what is in this bill. According to Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, two-thirds of the proposal’s tax cuts benefit only those earners in the top quintile of income brackets.

Cuts to the corporate tax rate, which decreased from 35 per cent to 21 per cent after the tax cuts were originally passed in 2017, would be made permanent. Those corporate tax cuts have helped drain our federal coffers. From 2018 to 2021, according to an analysis from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, the top corporations in the US saved a combined $240 billion in taxes.

This massive transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich is made plain by the fact that the tax cuts would be paid for largely by cutting people off Medicaid and SNAP.

Words like “waste, fraud and abuse” hide the bill’s true aims. Stereotypes of an unworthy poor person are updated. President Ronald Reagan used the racialized trope of “welfare queen” to defend welfare reform in the 1980’s. Today Speaker Mike Johnson describes “29 year old males sitting on their coach playing video games” to gin up anti-poor resentments and peddle the myth that food and health care are luxuries only for those who are deserving.

Political dog whistles are used to support radical changes to the Medicaid program via “Medicaid work requirements” that would, by design, drown people in bureaucratic paperwork. Quite cynically those who support this bill are not hiding the math: the tax cuts will be offset in part by the number of people projected to be cut off Medicaid.

The Congressional Budget Office’s latest cost estimate shows that the Medicaid provisions would increase the number of uninsured people by 7.6 million. Over 90,000 people in West Virginia would eventually lose health care coverage.

When Arkansas instituted work reporting requirements, more than 18,000 people lost Medicaid coverage, mainly due to failure to regularly report work status or document eligibility for an exemption.

The hypocrisy of the proposed reporting requirements is staggering. As New York Times columnist Ezra Klein points out, so-called work requirements are “an effort to weaponize the very bureaucratic inefficiency that they otherwise pretend to condemn and root out — against the weakest and most powerless segment of society: people who do not make enough money to get health insurance.”

“Medicaid work requirements” sound good which again is by design. The language obscures the fact that two thirds of people who receive Medicaid via expansion under the Affordable Care Act are already working full or part time. The other third of people are not working due to caregiving responsibilities, unaffordable child care, or any number of life complications that crop up, particularly when facing economic hardship every single day.

Orwell concludes in his essay on politics and language, “One cannot change this all in a moment, but one can at least change one’s own habits, and from time to time one can even, if one jeers loudly enough, send some worn-out and useless phrase into the dustbin where it belongs.”

I surely hope that the better and wiser angels of our nature carry the day, and that we all jeer loudly enough to send the “one big beautiful bill” into the dustbin where it belongs.

(This op-ed by Lida Shepherd appeared in the Charleston Gazette-Mail)

Senate needs to step up for SNAP

2025-05-22T09:08:00.000-04:00

I hope that West Virginia’s congressional delegation brings some sanity and humanity into policy decisions being debated in Congress.

A case in point is the reconciliation bill that passed the US House Agriculture Committee that would blow up Supplementary Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) food assistance for millions of Americans—and thousands of West Virginians-- to pay for more tax cuts aimed at the very wealthy.

Let’s start with where we are now. In West Virginia, around 124,000 households with around 279,000 people receive SNAP food assistance, including over 90,000 kids and almost 11,000 veterans. That’s around 15 percent of state residents. The program brings close to $50 million per month to the state’s economy.

That money goes directly to local businesses and farmers markets, keeps 2,170 retailers, including endangered rural grocery stores, open, and creates a lot of jobs. In fact, the annual amount of SNAP benefits in our economy is enough to support around 19,000 jobs at $30,000 a year.

According to the Food Research and Action Council, in recent years 69 percent of SNAP households here had at least one member working outside the home; 38 percent had at least one older adult; 43 percent had children; and 54 percent had at least one member with a disability.

All that would change and lots of people would be hurt if the House plan goes through. It would cut SNAP funding nationally by around $300 billion, resulting in a loss of food assistance to 11 million people.

Among other things, the plan would blow up already strained state budgets. It would require states to pay between 5 and 25 percent of the costs of benefits, while doubling state administrative costs. Given the ongoing budget woes facing our state, in part due to recently enacted tax cuts benefiting the wealthiest individuals and businesses, it’s highly unlikely that our state legislature would be willing or able to make up the difference.

It would erode the value of benefits as the price of food increases.

And it would double down on bureaucratic paperwork and work reporting requirements that do nothing to promote work and do everything to provide excuses to kick people off. It lifts the age of these requirements from 54 to 64 for older adults. It makes it harder for states to get requirement waivers.

It would completely eliminate SNAP-Ed, an evidence-based program that helps low-income families access fresh and healthier food.

It will eliminate food assistance for refugees and asylum seekers, many of whom are children and seniors.

One especially mean feature is that it would end exemptions from work reporting requirements for parents of children aged 7 to 17 without any allowances even for the months when school is not in session. It’s a mystery how they expect parents of young children to afford to pay for child care, which can cost more than college tuition, if their income is low enough to qualify for SNAP. And it totally disrespects the value of caregiving and raising children. SNAP eligibility changes may also make it harder for children to qualify for free school meals.

This will have negative social ripple effects that will be felt coast to coast and hit especially hard here. It will have negative effects on the economy, education, public health, and the quality of life.

And the purpose of creating all this unnecessary suffering (not even counting the even larger amount of proposed Medicaid cuts) is to pay for a tax cut bill that would overwhelmingly benefit the richest one percent at the expense of children, seniors, and working families.

I’d like to think that Representatives Miller and Moore would reconsider their support for this, but if not, it’s going to be up to the US Senate to stop this trainwreck. And a lot will depend on the voices and votes of Senators Capito and Justice.

(This ran as an op-ed in the Charleston Gazette-Mail. Text written before last night's house vote.)

Saving Medicaid: in their own words

2025-04-18T11:20:00.000-04:00

While going through some old files, I came across a copy of an interesting letter dated June 29, 2017, from then Governor, now Senator, Jim Justice to Senator Shelley Moore Capito. The subject was the looming threat of the repeal of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and especially Medicaid expansion.

Here are some excerpts:

Since so many of our people count on Medicaid, any cut to Medicaid would destroy families in West Virginia. We can’t put the 175,000 West Virginians who benefit from the Medicaid expansion at risk of losing coverage. The consequences would be beyond catastrophic.

In the face of our drug epidemic, fewer people would have access to drug treatment programs under the current proposal. As the debate moves forward, I hope you and your colleagues will consider the fact that it will only make it harder to combat the drug problem that’s ravaging West Virginia.

I think he nailed it then—and his words still apply today, arguably more than ever.

To her credit, Senator Capito issued this statement on July 18 of that year:

As I have said before, I did not come to Washington to hurt people. For months, I have expressed reservations about the direction of the bill to repeal and replace Obamacare. I have serious concerns about how we continue to provide affordable care to those who have benefited from West Virginia’s decision to expand Medicaid, especially in light of the growing opioid crisis. All of the Senate health care discussion drafts have failed to address these concerns adequately.

My position on this issue is driven by its impact on West Virginians. With that in mind, I cannot vote to repeal Obamacare without a replacement plan that addresses my concerns and the needs of West Virginians.

I think she nailed it too.

Eight years later, we’re facing a similar threat. This time around, the issue isn’t directly repealing the whole ACA, although it might as well be. Instead, it’s a federal budget reconciliation package that would cut $880 billion from Medicaid (not to mention $230 billion in SNAP food assistance and $12 billion in school meal funding) to pay for more tax cuts for the very wealthy.

A cut that huge would truly be, as Justice said, beyond catastrophic across the US and especially in low-income states like West Virginia. Our already dismal health statistics would get worse. Minor issues will turn major. Substance use disorder will go untreated. The cost of emergency room visits and uncompensated care will grow and be passed on to others. Rural hospitals will close. Jobs will be lost. And people will die.

The margins in Congress are razor thin. Our senators’ votes could influence the final outcome, especially after the House voted to throw us under the bus. I hope they take their own advice and side with the people of West Virginia again.

(This appeared as a column in the Charleston Gazette-Mail.)

Budget bill a disaster for West Virginia

2025-03-07T10:29:00.003-05:00

The US House of Representatives recently voted on a proposed budget that would cut $880 billion from Medicaid and $230 billion from SNAP food assistance while also slashing other programs, including meals for school children…to give $1.5 trillion in tax cuts aimed mostly to benefit the very wealthy.

The measure passed by just a two-vote margin. Both of West Virginia’s representatives voted for it.

If this becomes law, the damage done to West Virginians across the board would be incalculable.

Medicaid alone provides health coverage to over 72,000,000 people nationwide and to more than 500,000 West Virginians, including working adults, children, seniors, pregnant women, people with disabilities, and people getting treatment for substance use disorder. That’s close to one out of three of us.

We’d be hit harder by this than most other states. Nationwide, one out of five people are covered. It’s almost double that in West Virginia.

According to the Kaiser Family Fund, as of August 2024, around half of all childbirths are paid for by Medicaid here, while nearly the same percentage of children are either covered by it or the Children’s Health Insurance Program. It’s the major source of people needing long-term care, including 7 out of 9 people in nursing homes. It provides benefits for 40 percent of people with disabilities.

And while it covers many people who are too young or no longer able to work, most adults receiving it are employed.

The funding, most of which comes from the federal government, supports local economies, keeps rural hospitals open, and keeps people alive. It’s no exaggeration to say that if this goes through, people will die as a direct result. And people would lose their jobs.

If that wasn’t enough, the budget would reduce SNAP food assistance to 42 million people. As with Medicaid, we’d take a disproportionate hit here as well. Our state ranks third highest in the percentage of SNAP households, just behind New Mexico and Louisiana. Nationally, around 12 percent of people receive SNAP, while it’s 16 percent here.

According to the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC), SNAP helps 124,000 households here, or 279,000 individuals. It brings over $40 million a month to the state, helping 2,170 grocery stores and farmers markets and creating jobs. It’s estimated that each dollar’s worth of SNAP spending generates around $1.80 in economic activity.

Households receiving SNAP include children, the elderly, people with disabilities, and veterans. As with Medicaid, most SNAP households include at least one working member. And if you’re worried that these people are living high on the hog you can relax. The average daily benefit here is $4.54 per person.

On top of all that, the budget bill cuts $12 billion in funding for school breakfasts and lunches and makes sweeping restrictions to the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP), which supports meals for all. FRAC estimates this will reduce access to food in 24,000 schools with 12 million students.

In West Virginia, we’re talking about impacts in 468 schools with over 180,000 students. This would undo years of progress at the national and state level. CEP has proven very popular in every county in West Virginia since it cuts bureaucracy, improves child nutrition and educational outcomes, removes stigma, and gives working families a break.

The combined impact of these proposed cuts would hurt people across all political and demographic lines. Fortunately, it’s not a done deal. There will be more votes on this over the next few months. This could give time for people to voice their concerns and for lawmakers to reconsider their actions.

It’s important to also urge our senators to put the brakes on this. To her credit, Senator Capito said back in 2017 “I didn’t go to Washington to hurt people,” when huge health care cuts were on the agenda. As governor, Jim Justice expanded food aid to low-income children when school was not in session and established the Jobs and Hope program.

Before it’s over, I hope at least some of our representatives will put the people of West Virginia above all else.

(This appeared as an op-ed in the Charleston Gazette-Mail)

WV needs to renew SNAP stretch

2024-12-09T09:24:00.001-05:00

In many parts of the world, autumn is a time for harvest festivals celebrating the end of the growing season and laying up stores for the winter. One example is the recent celebration of Jewish Feast of Tabernacles, known in Hebrew as Succoth. That’s also part of the basis for the American Thanksgiving holiday.

In the Bible, harvest time demands special consideration for the poor. In Leviticus (19:9,10) it says, “When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the foreigner. I am the LORD your God.”

Unfortunately, many low-income West Virginians lost out on the chance to glean and store up for winter when the popular SNAP Stretch program was suspended in mid-August due to lack of funding.

SNAP is the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. SNAP Stretch is a program that boosts the purchasing power when people use SNAP benefits at participating farmers markets. It provides a dollar-per-dollar match to buy locally grown fruits, vegetables, herbs, plants, and seeds. The matching rate goes up for seniors and families with children.

SNAP Stretch is a winner all around, but let’s start with those for hungry people. Regular SNAP benefits aren’t nearly as generous as some people tend to believe. They average around $6 per person per day, an amount many people spend on fancy lattes at a coffee shop. The boost in buying power from SNAP Stretch can make a big difference.

There are also health benefits. While heavily processed foods can be a cheap source of calories, they are often high in sugar, salt, fat, and other ingredients associated with increasing risk of obesity, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and other ailments. That’s a sharp contrast with fresh local foods.

There are the economic gains. I’ve read that the average food item purchased by Americans comes from around 1,500 miles away, usually made and distributed by (publicly subsidized) food conglomerates. God knows what’s been done to it by whom by the time it gets to us.

And that “food product” is often sold in big box retail stores that siphon money out of the local economy. There’s a huge difference between that and putting money directly into the hands of neighbors in exchange for healthy homegrown food.

According to the Food Research and Action Council (FRAC), each dollar’s worth of SNAP benefits generates $1.79 in economic activity, supporting local farmers, markets, businesses, and jobs.

There are other benefits. Eating fresh locally grown food helps us reconnect with the turning of the seasons. There’s a big difference between opening a bag of frozen corn versus shucking a few ears grown by neighbors. If you eat animal products such as dairy, eggs, or meat, chances are that those from small local farmers were produced more humanely than those from huge factory farms where many animals never see the light of day.

SNAP Stretch helps build community. You can spend hours wandering the aisles of big box stores without a lot of human interaction. You can even check out with a machine without as much as nodding at the checkout clerk. That’s not going to happen at a farmers’ market. At my local market, it’s not unusual to see people hit every truck and table, talking to growers and fellow shoppers as well.

The influential food writer Michael Pollan said it well:

…there is a lot more going on in them than the exchange of money for food. Someone is collecting signatures on a petition. Someone else is playing music. Children are everywhere, sampling fresh produce, talking to farmers. Friends and acquaintances stop to chat. One sociologist calculated that people have ten times as many conversations at the farmers’ market than they do in the supermarket. Socially as well as sensually, the farmers’ market offers a remarkably rich and appealing environment. Someone buying food here may be acting not just as a consumer but also as a neighbor, a citizen, a parent, a cook. In many cities and towns, farmers’ markets have taken on (and not for the first time) the function of a lively new public square.

In times like these, we need more of that.

This program was developed by the West Virginia Food and Farm Coalition and funded by a mixture of USDA and local funding, sometimes provided by a mix of philanthropy and COVID-era public money. It has reached nearly 80,000 families and put around $3 million into local farm economies. When funding dried up this summer, activities, 26 markets in 21 counties lost out.

One way to make sure this doesn’t happen again—and to do so before the next growing season—is for the legislature to provide annual funding to match federal contributions in the next session. A few hundred thousand dollars a year is decimal dust in a $5 billion state budget, but it would benefit families and farmers statewide. We’ve spent much more on stranger things with less public benefit.

Since I started with a Bible verse, I might as well end with one. In chapter 6 of Matthew, Jesus said “where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

(This appeared as an op-ed in the Charleston Gazette-Mail.)

Roll the union!

2024-04-29T13:06:00.003-04:00

The United Autoworkers strike against the Big Three car companies in late 2023 gained national attention and enthusiasm. That might have just been the beginning.

Following the successful strike, which linked issues related to class and climate, the UAW turned its attention to organizing the unorganized. Those efforts have recently been crowned with success by the overwhelming vote of workers at the Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

The vote was 2,628 in favor of joining the union and 985 against, meaning around 73% supported the drive. Earlier efforts to unionize the facility failed in 2014 and 2019. Next month, workers at the Mercedes-Benz plant in Vance, Alabama will also vote on joining the union.

If this trend continues, this win in the traditionally anti-union South could be as historic as last year’s victory—or the epic organizing drives of the 1930s.

It’s no secret that for decades corporations have been shifting production to southern states, where the power of unions has traditionally been thwarted by so-called “Right to Work” (RTW) legislation. I call it “Right to Work for Less.”

RTW laws lower labor standards, undermine the democratic process, weaken unions, and allow free riders to benefit from collective bargaining agreements without providing dues to support the process. And unfortunately, these laws have spread beyond their southern origins.

Many people may not be aware, however, of the vile and explicitly racist origins and motivations of RTW.

The person who came up with the name and launched the movement to enact it as law was a Texas businessman and politico named Vance Muse, who lived from 1890 to 1950. An unabashed racist and anti-Semite, he bitterly opposed the labor law reforms of the New Deal, which he referred to as “the Jew Deal.”

At the time, the labor movement was making huge advances and helping to build working-class power. However, it faced serious obstacles in the South, where a racial caste system divided workers and kept wages low for everyone.

Vance and his allies in the “Christian American Association,” an organization he founded to promote RTW, were opposed to unions not only for their promotion of better wages and conditions but also for their potential threat to the system of racial segregation. But they soon gained powerful supporters beyond the South and began to win major victories.

According to Dartmouth historian Marc Dixon: “The Christian American Association out of Houston was the first to champion Right-to-Work as a full-blown political slogan in 1941. The organization stood out in a crowded field for its fiery rhetoric against President Roosevelt and especially labor. But Right-to-Work quickly moved from the fringe to the mainstream. After the war, organizations like the Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers championed the laws with great effect. By the early spring of 1947, fourteen states had adopted Right-to-Work, and the Taft-Hartley Act, passed by Congress later that year, solidified the rights of states to pass and enforce these laws.”

Muse was able to play on racial biases to promote RTW with considerable success — but not a lot of subtlety. Some of his anti-Black and antisemitic remarks are too inflammatory to include here. Suffice it to say that he believed anti-labor laws and repression were necessary to “keep the color line drawn in our social affairs” and “protect the Southern Negro [sic] from communistic propaganda and influences.”

When union organizers with the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) dreamed of launching “Operation Dixie” in the 1940s to organize southern workers and overcome segregation, Muse’s wealthy backers of millionaires, corporations, business associations, and demagogic politicians were able to largely neutralize the effort.

It won’t be easy, but perhaps this most recent UAW victory will be a major step toward undoing that shameful legacy of racism and greed.

I don’t know of anyone who spoke the truth about RTW—and the connection between the struggles for racial and economic justice—more clearly than the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. “In our glorious fight for civil rights, we must guard against being fooled by false slogans, such as ‘right to work’” he said. “It is a law to rob us of our civil rights and job rights.”

King elaborated that RTW’s “purpose is to destroy labor unions and the freedom of collective bargaining by which unions have improved wages and working conditions of everyone. … Wherever these laws have been passed, wages are lower, job opportunities are fewer and there are no civil rights. We do not intend to let them do this to us. We demand this fraud be stopped.”

Amen to that.

(This appeared on the AFSC website. The UAW has won another victory since this came out.)

Criminalizing homelessness?

2024-04-23T09:23:00.005-04:00

Yesterday, April 22, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in what is likely to be a landmark case about the criminalization of poverty and homelessness. The case, City of Grants Pass, Oregon v Johnson, involves a town that passed ordinances prohibiting people from sleeping outside in public while using bedding materials such as blankets, pillows, or sleeping bags. Those found violating the ordinances could be subject to fines and jail time.

The court’s decision will have far-reaching impacts on cities around the U.S. with growing homeless populations. If the ordinance is allowed to stand, it would basically outlaw an essential biological function for people unable to afford conventional housing—a violation of human dignity even more extreme than homelessness itself.

Fortunately, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals blocked the town from enforcing the ordinances. The court found that punishing homeless people where no other housing options were available constituted cruel and unusual punishment, which is prohibited by the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution. Now the case is headed to the Supreme Court.

AFSC joined diverse faith-based organizations in filing an amicus brief opposing the punishment of homelessness on both constitutional and religious grounds. The brief states in part: “The universal bedrock beliefs of faith traditions have affirmed for centuries that punishing poor and homeless people for the effects of their poverty and homelessness fails to honor the holy nature of creation, and thereby fails society as a whole.”

Among the groups that joined in filing this brief were the Kairos Center for Religions, Rights, and Justice; Friends General Conference; Bend the Arc: A Jewish Partnership for Justice; Hindus for Human Rights; Interfaith Assembly on Homelessness and Housing; Metropolitan AME (African Methodist Episcopal); National Council of Jewish Women; National Clergy Council of the National Union of the Homeless; NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice; Riverside Church; Sisters of Mercy of the Americans; and the Unitarian Universalist Association.

AFSC has a long history of working on issues related to housing justice—including addressing, preventing, and attempting to end homelessness, from supporting public housing for displaced workers in the Great Depression to challenging evictions and predatory mortgage practices in the Great Recession of the 2000s and beyond.

Today, AFSC’s work for housing justice involves struggles for tenant rights; advocacy for adequate funding for housing assistance at the local, state, and federal levels; support for housing options for people dealing with issues of recovery and reentry; and the development of housing alternatives such as community land trusts and cooperatives.

However the court rules, we know that long-term solutions to problems associated with homelessness will not be found in punishment. Instead, we must make investments in affordable housing, supportive services, mental health, recovery and reentry programs, and economic policies that end poverty and promote shared prosperity for all.

Interested in learning more about the court case and how you can advocate for the rights of homeless people?

Check out this recap of a webinar hosted by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, the National Low Income Housing Coalition, the National Alliance to End Homelessness, and the National Homelessness Law Center.

In addition, several of these organizations are hosting a national week of action this week to oppose the criminalization of homelessness and advance long-term solutions. To take part, use this toolkit, which includes tips for meeting with legislators, hosting educational events, and raising awareness through social media.

Want to help reduce child hunger? Here's one way

2024-04-02T10:47:00.003-04:00

Everybody's got to eat

It’s no secret that hunger affects kids’ health and makes it harder for them to learn and thrive in school. In recent years, there has been growing awareness that millions of children in the U.S. rely on school breakfasts and lunches—and increasingly after-school snacks and meals—for a significant part of their nutrition.

This has led many to ask about what happens to those children when school is not in session. This is an especially crucial question in a time of pandemics, extreme weather events, and other disasters.

Even a polarized Congress has recognized the importance of this issue. Recently, Congress enacted a permanent program to help low-income kids get the food they need when schools are out for summer. The Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) program, which will take effect this year, is modeled on the Pandemic EBT cards issued during the COVID public health emergency.

The new program will provide pre-loaded cards worth $120 in grocery-buying benefits to low-income families with school-age children. As many as 30 million children could benefit, according to the Food Research and Action Council (FRAC). With the help of other programs—such as SNAP Stretch, which doubles or even triples the purchasing power of EBT cards at farmers’ markets—Summer EBT can dramatically improve child nutrition. That means more kids will have access to the food they need year-round, which will pay off in the long term for their health and well-being.

There are economic benefits to the program, as well. Summer EBT could provide a boost to local businesses, farmers, and economies worth at least $3.6 billion from the EBT cards alone. In addition, the USDA estimates that every dollar of EBT benefits spent generates a multiplier effect of 1.54.

How you can help

The Summer EBT program is based on a federal-state partnership, with states having to share administrative costs. Recognizing the value of this program, most states—whether led by Democratic or Republican administrations—have chosen to implement it.

Unfortunately, as of this writing, 14 states have chosen not to participate in 2024. That leaves more than 10 million children without this critical benefit. Those states are:

Alabama

Alaska

Florida

Georgia

Idaho

Iowa

Louisiana

Mississippi

Oklahoma

South Carolina

South Dakota

Vermont (they plan to next year, but a nice nudge woudn't hurt)

Wyoming

Do you live in one of these states--or know people who do? You can help by joining AFSC’s campaign to persuade leaders in your state to implement Summer EBT.

AFSC, with our over 100 years of experience in working for food security, is partnering with national and state allies to ensure that all eligible children can benefit from this program. We will share ideas, talking points, media toolkits, data, materials, and other tools to support you in working to achieve this goal.

Together, we can ensure more kids have the food they need while school is out.

If you’re interested in working toward a No Hunger Summer, please contact us at nohungersummer@afsc.org.

One more push for an expanded Child Tax Credit

2024-03-25T09:56:00.001-04:00

Congress passed the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) in 2021 in response to the human and economic damage caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. It was a complicated piece of legislation that included aid to state and local governments as well as individuals and families.

One of the most important—if temporary— parts was an expansion of the Child Tax Credit (CTC), which provided monthly payments to families with children based on the age and number of children. During the all too brief time that it was in effect, child poverty dropped with record speed in 2021, reaching an all time low of around five percent. Workforce participation of parents and caregivers increased while the expanded CTC was in effect.

Research showed that families spent most of the additional income on things you might expect food, housing costs, child care, utilities. People who study child well-being have long regarded economic security as a protective factor that reduces the probability of maltreatment and abuse. According to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, receipt of CTC payments were associated with a decline in maltreatment reports and emergency room visits.

Statistics alone aren’t the whole story. Between July and December 2021, I was part of a group effort to collect stories from West Virginia parents and caregivers about what effect the CTC had on their families. The results were about as basic as you can get.

One family was finally able to fix a broken toilet, which is kind of a big deal. Some children got beds of their own for the first time in their lives. Other parents were able to buy tires or repair vehicles so they could go to work. Another bought enough firewood to get through the winter. Others bought clothes and shoes for school. Some children were able to take part in sports, extracurricular activities, or go to lessons they would otherwise have missed.

You get the idea. If you were in one of those families, you can probably add to the list.

Unfortunately, in January 2022, Congress allowed the expanded CTC to expire. This ended much needed assistance for millions of working class and low-income families. The child poverty rate more than doubled in 2022.

Now there’s a chance to undo at least some of that damage. Despite extreme political polarization, the Republican-led US House of Representatives approved a bipartisan tax plan that would partially expand the CTC again. To her credit, Republican Representative Carol Miller, who represents southern West Virginia, supported the measure. It passed the House by an incredible 357-70 margin.

This expansion of the CTC is not as generous or inclusive as the 2021 version, but it could benefit 16 million low-income families and lift as many as 500,000 children out of poverty by 2025.

The bill is now stalled in the Senate but it’s not dead yet. In an era of razor thin majorities, every vote counts. It would probably have more of a positive proportional impact in West Virginia than in most other states.

West Virginia’s senators could help move it across the finish line. This time around I hope they do.

(This appeared as an op-ed in the Charleston Gazette-Mail.)

The end of an era

2024-02-22T14:10:00.000-05:00

It's hard to believe that this (now irregular) blog started 18 years ago t next month. The name Goat Rope came from three sources:

*First, when the Spousal Unit and I were on the local volunteer fire department, we went to an auto extrication class led by someone with a hilarious voice. In a mixed class of men and women, he'd often say "Boys--you know what I see here? I see a goat rope." The term may have rodeo roots, but it mostly means a hot mess these days. It stuck.

*Second, when we moved out in the country, we decided to call the place Goat Rope Farm even before it was anything like a farm.

*Third, around 19 years ago, we became the proud caregivers of Venus, a pregnant Alpine diary goat. Venus was the first of several to grace our farm and torment their human caregivers. On some occasions, they even gave milk for drinking, cheese, yogurt, and soap as produced by said spouse (although they were probably more happy sticking their feet in the milking pail).

Yesterday, that era came to an end. We were down to two old dairy goats who had never given birth or milk (we tried) and were basically walking lawn ornaments that were becoming more of a challenge to manage. We were lucky to find a home for them in our extended family on a farm with kids (the human kind) who love goats.

So the goats are gone...but the goat rope remains.

Reflections on Gaza

2024-01-03T16:36:00.002-05:00

(A photo I took there in 2015)

In 2015, I was part of a delegation to Palestine, with stops in Israel in Tel Aviv and Jaffa.

We visited Ramallah, Nablus, Hebron, Bethlehem, and East and West Jerusalem. And Gaza. That sounds like a lot, but everything is close there in terms of geography. In terms of Palestinian people’s ability to freely move around and between the West Bank and Gaza, not so much.

Obviously, that doesn’t make me an expert, but I saw things I wish I hadn’t seen and learned things I wish I didn’t know. Sometimes knowledge brings no joy.

I’m not interested in picking any fights, justifying any atrocities, minimizing anyone’s suffering, or valuing some lives and deaths over others. But I can say some things about Gaza or what Gaza was with some confidence.

One, it has often been called an open-air prison. Don’t take my word for it—just google the term. In my experience that wasn’t far off the mark.

Two, it’s tiny. For comparison, one of our smaller counties is Wirt with around 235 square miles and a little over 5,000 people. Gaza is more than 1/3 smaller, at around 140 square miles, but it has—or had—2.3 million people, one of the world’s densest populations. In parts of it, you’d have a hard time shaking a stick without hitting someone.

Three, it’s been under military blockade for 15 or so years. Everything was scarce, including safe drinking water, food, power, sanitation, and all the basics. At the time, people were trying to rebuild after the last conflict. Around then, the UN said it wouldn’t be livable by 2020. As for the accuracy of that prediction, I guess it’s a matter of definition. It’s definitely true now.

Four, the unemployment rate was around 50 percent before the war. I saw lots of people sitting at tables and hoping to sell things nobody would ever buy. Before this crisis, around 80 percent relied on aid from the UN.

Five, about half the population consists of children under 18 living in very adverse conditions. There’s lots of science about how adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) can lead to all kinds of problems down the road.

Six, it wasn’t easy to get into and almost impossible for most residents to leave. I found the sense of claustrophobia overwhelming.

Seven, I’m sure most people there were not connected with those wielding power. That’s true everywhere in the world and is especially true of the women and children who have made up the bulk of casualties. A pre-war poll found that 44 percent of Gazans had no trust at all in the government and 23 percent had “not a lot of trust.”

Eight, there are Christians there, representing Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant traditions, although church buildings have been damaged or demolished by bombings from recent or previous conflicts. Gaza’s only Christian hospital, once connected with Southern Baptists, was bombed in mid-October. It was the only that treated cancer.

Nine, it has one of the world’s highest literacy rates for men and women, above 97 percent, higher than ours. Gazans value higher education, although resources were slim and are now nonexistent. I remember talking with men and women university students about their love for English language writers like Dickens, Twain, and Hemingway. Reading and writing were their ways of dealing with the feeling of isolation from the world.

Ten, most people there are or are descended from people displaced from Israel. Many are or were still living in refugee camps.

As a thought experiment, try closing your eyes and imagining a situation like this happening anywhere in the world.

One of the most striking things about the people was their refusal to be defined by their situation. More than once, members of the delegation teared up when seeing the conditions. “Why are you crying? We’re living our lives” was their typical response.

I’m sure many of the people I saw have been killed or injured and all have been displaced and are dealing with horrible conditions of hunger, thirst, disease, lack of medical care, and trauma.

Watching this reminds me of the aftermath of 9/11, when people were understandably afraid and outraged. Unfortunately, the response by US leaders had disastrous consequences, including invading Iraq, which wasn’t involved in the attacks. The result was around 4,500 US military fatalities and 32,000 wounded. Well over 30,000 US veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan have committed suicide, a number that grows every day. The death toll for Iraqis is impossible to calculate, although it’s in the hundreds of thousands. The long-term cost will be around $2 trillion. And the situation in that part of the world still isn’t rosy.

The use of force is always unpredictable, with unintended consequences for all parties, as any glance at history shows from the days of the Iliad to our time. Violence tends to lead to more of a growing spiral than a cycle, with each act leading to a more severe reprisal. Who knows how many seeds of spiraling violence have been sown over the last few months- or who will reap that whirlwind?

No wonder that public opinion polls in the US and across the world show overwhelming support for de-escalation, massive humanitarian aid, and a ceasefire.

One thing seems clear to me: the longer this situation lasts, the worse the long-term outcomes are going to be. For everyone concerned.

(This ran as an op-ed in the Charleston Gazette-Mail.)