There was a bit of a media firestorm around comments Governor Mitt Romney made during a CNN interview last week, in which he claimed “I’m not concerned about the very poor.” Regardless of your political affiliation or opinions about Governor Romney’s comments, Mark Moore, founder and CEO of MANA Nutrition, an organization that helps provide solutions for global malnutrition, has a unique take I wanted to share with you….
To be honest, I don’t have any personal feelings about Governor Romney or about any of the prospective candidates. But I think our attitudes toward the poor need some examining. And while I’m sure Mitt was speaking about the poor here at home, the issue of poverty is really a global problem and the poor here in the U.S. are just a small part of it.
He also explains why it’s important to pay attention to the world’s poor, because they hurt the overall growth of their countries’ economies, including our own:
But the cost of poverty goes beyond the direct costs of feeding the poor. To be cold and calculating about it, people who are too poor and too hungry to work represent a major drain on global productivity. And with no money in their pockets, they’re too poor to buy the goods and services produced by the industrialized world. As every capitalist should appreciate, though many apparently don’t, the poor are bad for business.
ONE members enjoyed support from elected leaders, presidential candidates and voters from both political parties and all walks of life in the days leading up to today’s Florida primary. ONE Vote Organizer Thomas Leary reports.
Last week, only days to go before Florida voters cast their ballots, fellow ONE member Zach Lamb and I attended a State of the Union watch party hosted by the Jacksonville Young Democrats, a group eager to help build support for the fight against extreme poverty and preventable diseases. Since ONE is a nonpartisan organization, I suggested that promoting ONE within the community might be a great opportunity to reach out and partner with the Young Republicans. And so began a fun few days delivering on ONE Vote 2012.
ONE Vote Organizer Charlie Harris reports from the Florida primary.
In my last post, I showed you some of the really cool things that can happen in a day in the life of a ONE Vote organizer. But sometimes, things don’t always go as planned. Such has been the case for my recent exploits down here in the Sunshine State in the build up to the primary. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not going to complain about being near the beach, but patience is definitely a virtue on the campaign trail.
Thursday, I made the two-hour trek down to Pensacola, Fla., from where I am staying with family in Panama City Beach. As soon as I arrived at what was to be an event with presidential candidate Sen. Rick Santorum, a torrential downpour made the event soggy and unpleasant for someone who forgot their umbrella. But luckily, I had a cool ONE hoodie nearby (shameless ONE Store plug, check them out). To my dismay, the crowd gathered was told that Senator Santorum couldn’t land due to the severe weather threat, and thus I trudged back to my car for what was not looking like a fun ride back. But when life gives you severe weather that makes road conditions hazardous, get FroYo until the storm passes!
As the candidates, media and ONE Vote get ready to head over to the Florida primary, I decided to recap my time at the South Carolina primary with something a little different: a list of my top 10 favorite things about the First in the South primary.
10. You never know what candidate events will bring. In South Carolina, we sent two ONE members to the Lowcountry Sportsmen Barbecue for Newt Gingrich. We didn’t know what a “lowcountry sportsman” was, but we took a leap of faith and sent Kate and Adrienne out to talk with Speaker Gingrich about extreme poverty-fighting. And it was well worth it, as the ladies had an opportunity to speak with Gingrich directly.
A day after Governor Nikki Haley endorsed Gov. Mitt Romney on national television, both participated in Congressman Tim Scott’s Townhall series on Saturday in Charleston.
ONE volunteer Caleb attended the townhall Saturday morning, where more than 300 people turned out to hear Gov. Romney speak about the issues leading up to the primaries.
Caleb was able to speak with Gov. Romney, and encouraged him to support foreign aid through these tough economic times, citing how initiatives like PEPFAR and PMI have helped save millions of lives and are fostering future markets for American goods.
Caleb says Gov. Romney was very responsive to these issues, and acknowledged the friendly encounters with all ONE volunteers across Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina.
I was lucky to be part of a delegation of four South Carolina ONE members who were in the room as the GOP presidential candidates came to Wofford College to debate foreign policy for the first time this nominating season.
The ONE delegation on the stage at the Wofford Debate: Zach, Charlie, Caitlin and Hannah.
Our ONE Vote effort is officially in full swing in South Carolina. Last week, Washington Post columnist and Senior ONE Adviser Michael Gerson, traveled the state to help us continue our efforts to bring the issues of global health and extreme poverty to the presidential primary race.
Mike Gerson shares his story with the College of Charleston
ONE is campaigning to ensure that the Congressional budget does not cut foreign assistance programs like Feed the Future that help people break the cycle of poverty and hunger.
The Horn of Africa is experiencing its worst drought in 60 years. More than 11 million people, mostly nomadic pastoralists and farmers in south-central Somalia, north-eastern Kenya, and south-eastern Ethiopia, are severely lacking access to food.
2011 marks 30 years since the first cases of AIDS were documented. Take a closer look at the specific, achievable goals we must hit by 2015 to make this year the beginning of the end of AIDS.
As aid agencies warn more than 9 million people could be affected by a food crisis in East Africa, world leaders are failing to keep their 2009 promises to tackle the causes of chronic hunger and support farmers in the world's poorest countries.
