I want to take a moment to thank the entire Blue Mass Group community for your work highlighting progressive causes and candidates. I know we have a lot of work ahead to keep improving Massachusetts, and I hope you’ll follow my campaign via Twitter @berwickforma and on Facebook by liking Don Berwick for Governor. But first I want to talk with you about an issue that will be central to my campaign for Governor of the Commonwealth.
Candidates for public office face a continual choice. Do they figure out what people want to hear, and say that? Or do they say what they think and believe in, and trust in the possibility that that will resonate with voters? The latter is what I plan to do in my run for Governor of Massachusetts. And that is what leads me to talk about eliminating poverty in our state – front and center.
I spoke about this in my debut speech at the 2013 Democratic State Convention, and I intend to speak about it every chance I get throughout this campaign.
Our nation began a war on poverty when I was a young man. We made progress, but it remains unfinished business. In Massachusetts, we should finish it. We are a state endowed with enough imagination, creativity, community spirit, and, indeed, wealth, that we can, if we decide to, eliminate homelessness, end hunger, and help every single person of working age find a productive role in our economy.
This is both a moral test for our Commonwealth (as it is for all societies) and a pragmatic step in our shared self-interest. Poverty in our midst hurts us all. I have seen the price of the despair and dissolution that comes when people lose hope. Nothing drains hope faster than not knowing how you can get food, clothing, shelter, and yes, health care, tomorrow, and the next day, and the next. In a speech I gave to the Harvard Medical School and Dental School graduating classes in 2012, I told the true story of a patient of mine (I called him, “Isaiah”) who was cured of leukemia in a miracle of modern medical science, only to die a decade later on the streets, unemployed, depressed, and without hope.
We can do better.
And we must. Massachusetts is a state, like all others, with deep-seated inequities and an undercurrent of poverty for a troubled minority of our people. A crucial study by the Crittenton Women’s Center found that three out of every four single-parent households in our state struggle to afford basic needs. As I have traveled the state, I have heard of pockets of pending foreclosures – hundreds of families about to lose their homes – for whom “economic recovery” is so far just a myth. In our state nearly 1 in 6 of our children are growing up in poverty; nearly 9,000 kids are in foster care; over 16,000 people are homeless.
Skeptics worry about welfare cheats and people who abuse supports even though they are not truly indigent. There are a few of those, but I know from decades of medical practice with patients in and teetering over poverty that most families in the lowest tiers of our economy are just as honest, generous, and, given a chance, hard working as any in the upper tiers. They are in a hole – most of the time one they did not create – and they need a hand to get out of it.
Did you see the report about MacDonald’s Corporation’s guidelines for its lowest wage employees for their monthly budget? It allocated, for example, $20 a month for health care. $20! You try it. In fact, I have trouble thinking of a more certain route to despair than to have $20 a month to spend on your health and your children’s.
No, I do not have a simple fix. Ending poverty is not about sound bytes; it is about systems and communities. The ramp out of poverty has many parts – sound education available to all, including a robust and rejuvenated Community College system, proper and progressive prison rehabilitation programs that reduce our unacceptable rates of recidivism, a creditable minimum wage, child-care options and training programs that give young mothers and fathers flexibility and skills to find and keep jobs, food programs in and out of schools that end hunger, and more. And all of this needs to be done with a sense of shared responsibility and accountability to the public; it is not a one-way street.
Let’s make a commitment. I would like us to promise ourselves that Massachusetts will be, on our watch, the state in which poverty finally met its match. “Freedom from want” and “freedom from fear” are goals as important, worthy, and winnable now as when those phrases first were uttered. I think we should make those aspirations into plans, and get the job done.
To DonBerwick: Quick question (which I have for all candidates who post hear un der a specific name not committee)…Did you write this posting yourself? or did a staffer write it and you approved it for posting? Transparency and honesty are best policies. jmho…it may not matter to most, but it still matters to me.
Thanks for the question, hlpeary. I wrote it, myself, and accepted a few – very few – stylistic edits from colleagues.
n/t
Sure, I want to eliminate poverty also, but, Don, what are you going to do? And, how will you pay for it? Will you increase taxes? Will you try to institute a progressive income tax? Where are the specifics? Or, is your statement just fluff?
Do you envision government as the sole provider of these benefits?
Food programs, recidivism and rehabilitation, education and child care – all of these are also the aim ofprivate non-profits. Philanthropists, grant makers and volunteers also contribute in these areas, yet MA has no charitable deduction. Do you see government as the sole provider and problem solver? Because government is created by laws, program parameters much be stated and enforced, forcing many who are truly needy outside the qualification guidelines.
Speaking for all those who are $1,000 over the annual income limit, 6 months shy of the age qualification, and 1/4 mile outside the program zone – are tax increases the only way?
I haven’t chosen a candidate in the Governor’s race yet, but this guy’s speech at the convention was electric. He really delivered a surprisingly impressive speech, putting progressive values in a historical perspective. I had never heard of him before and made a mental note to check him out after. The crowd, who I would guess were mostly being introduced to him for the first time, seemed to love it too.
Did other people who were at the convention have a similar take on it?
While there are a lot of diverse opinions on it, the consensus seems to have been Berwick was the most impressive, Wolfe could/should ahve been better and Avellone is not ready for prime time.
Yeah, I love being pleasantly surprised. It is pretty rare.
I will have to learn more about Mr. Berwick before I base I form an opinion on just one speech. Good to see you on BMG, Don!
As his wiki bio outlines, Berwick is arguably the preeminent health care expert in the world (Britain hired him to evaluate their health care system) . Given this post and his intro speech at the Dem convention, it is apparent that he is NOT going to be a one-note candidate staying in his safety zone (like Avellone did at the convention with his business experience.)
One question is: What will his policy platform look like? How will he apply his problem solving skills to tackle tough issues like social welfare issues / education / mental health and public safety–where we now spend more money on prisons than higher education? (Something I’d like to hear from all the candidates about.)
Other questions are purely political. Can he project himself as a candidate that can motivate and lead? Can he be successful with the nuts and bolts of fundraising and campaign organizing? He seems to be clearing the low huddles that he has encountered, so far–a good introduction at the convention last month and he’s got more than $250,000 cash on hand. A good start, but he’s got a long, long way to go.
How do you expect to work with the legislature? How will you move them to accept your priorities as their priorities? How will you handle and deal with political opposition to your proposals, even if the polls or popular opinion shows your position in unpopular? If legislators are uncooperative will you support and enable a progressive grassroots revolt against Beacon Hill to remove the DINOs and get progressive in? What were Gov. Patrick’s greatest successes and what were his greatest failures?
Let me end these questions by saying I am excited by your candidacy, appreciate someone with such a strong policy background, and appreciate your perspective and views and am glad you are in this race. That said, I am genuinely undecided and need to hear more and welcome your answers.