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Posted on Wed, Apr 20, 2011 : 12:07 p.m.

Remaking America: Would you pray, fast, live on less?

By Wayne Baker

0419 OV Tony Hall at Hungerfast.jpg

U.S. Rep. and Ambassador Tony Hall is fighting hunger by fasting. Will you join him?

Photo courtesy of Hungerfast.org

Editor's note: This post is part of a series by Dr. Baker on Our Values about core American values. This week Dr. Baker is discussing the federal budget's potential to remake America.

Is the current bad economy and crushing debt a conservative’s dream come true? Are conservatives using this crisis as an excuse to remake America into their image of an ideal nation: a radically small government with minimal social programs?

That’s what many critics of the conservative agenda believe. The Republican budget that passed in the House last Friday is really a stealth bomber, these critics say, with the mission to destroy liberal programs, shrink the federal government and benefit the rich.

Monday was Tax Day 2011 — and a major coalition of progressive groups declared it’s time to “Make Them Pay”!

Have you heard of this campaign? If not, you may be wondering: Who is “them”? According to the campaign, “them” is corporations and millionaires who don’t pay their fair share of taxes. The “Make Them Pay” campaign is vowing to hold more than 300 local protest events and plans to “present tax bills to corporate tax dodgers for the billions of dollars their legions of lobbyists helped them avoid. We’ll organize a peaceful, dignified, and powerful day of action to call on corporations to pay their fair share. And we’ll demand that our elected leaders make them pay.”

What is the “Make Them Pay” rationale? The campaign says: “America is not broke. The right-wing wants to convince us we’re broke so that they can push through their radical agenda. And well-connected corporations continue to use their political power to dodge their taxes. In 2009, after helping crash the American economy, Bank of America paid $0 in taxes. GE had a tax bill of $0 in 2010. Republicans want to give a $50 billion tax bailout to big oil companies — and at the same time take away food aid to hungry pregnant women and children. This is immoral and un-American.”

Other groups are chiming in with opposition to budget cuts affecting the world's hungry and poor.

A few dozen members of Congress have joined former U.S. Rep. and Ambassador Tony Hall in Hungerfast.org, a movement to pray and fast to accomplish three goals: Remind people about the status of hungry and poor people in the U.S. and the world, to focus public attention on the effects of the proposed budget cuts, and to form a “circle of protection” around programs that help the most vulnerable people at home and abroad.

Hall was a Congressman back in 1993, when Congress eliminated the House Select Committee on Hunger. In protest, he went on a 22-day fast. Thousands of people joined Hall. Among other results, the World Bank increased support for hunger programs.

Now, Hall is fasting again, this time in response to the proposed cuts to programs for the poor, hungry, and vulnerable. Over 50 million Americans live in food-insecure households — where they miss meals and don’t get enough to eat on a regular basis. It’s a tragedy that widespread hunger exists in America, an issue that we’ve discussed before on OurValues.org.

Hall calls on people of faith and conscience to join him. If you visit Hungerfast.org, here are three pledges you can make:

* PRAY. Reflection and prayer at least once a week to support Hungerfast and the vulnerable.
* FAST. Skip a meal every day. Don’t eat solid food one day a week. Stop eating solid food altogether.
* LIVE ON LESS. Spend no more than $2 a day food — the daily amount that 2.1 billion people survive on each day.

What do you make of these movements and their aims?
Could you commit to either one?
Do you feel fasting or praying would aid in achieving a more humane budget?

Dr. Wayne E. Baker is a sociologist on the faculty of the University of Michigan Ross School of Business. Baker blogs daily at Our Values and can be reached at ourvaluesproject@gmail.com or on Facebook.

Comments

Garrett

Thu, Apr 21, 2011 : 1:50 p.m.

Pray? Who do I pray to? What does that even mean? And better yet, what does that accomplish?

Salinemary

Wed, Apr 20, 2011 : 11:56 p.m.

I will pray that those that who are hungry find food. I will eat less and donate the difference to a local food pantry.

Macabre Sunset

Wed, Apr 20, 2011 : 10:36 p.m.

Ironic that someone who is part of a group that benefits tremendously from not having to pay taxes is whining about those who already pay a lot. This entire column is anti-intellectual tripe, and belongs in a church newsletter.

braggslaw

Wed, Apr 20, 2011 : 10:29 p.m.

Fine I will work less and hope the govt takes money from others.....and I get a cut

shrewdrealist

Wed, Apr 20, 2011 : 8:55 p.m.

The real problem is that we are so involved with buying into the illusion and feeding our egos; the illusion that we are separate and we are not one.

bedrog

Wed, Apr 20, 2011 : 8:01 p.m.

Unless you're giving the food $$ over $2 to the hungry directly, nothing is being accomplished. As to praying , God's head ( or heads, if the diety is a committee- which would explain alot!!) must be spinning from the contradictory beseechments of competing and often mutually hostile believers. Better than either is to inform yourself and vote intelligently ( .i.e not for teapartiers).

Top Cat

Wed, Apr 20, 2011 : 7:25 p.m.

This article covers a lot of ground and most of it is balderdash. I won't pray because I don't believe it accomplishes anything. I won't fast because I need the energy to do my job and take care of my responsibilities and family. I won't live on less because one thing that motivates me every day to work hard and be successful is so I can live well.

Townie

Wed, Apr 20, 2011 : 6:40 p.m.

Skip fasting - get organized, get the real facts out (don't expect AA.com to provide them) and VOTE.

shrewdrealist

Wed, Apr 20, 2011 : 8:54 p.m.

Just don't vote democrat or republican.