I've always been mystified by the idea of taking a vow of poverty. To me, raised as I was in the liberal household of liberal households, it seemed compelling: live as the world's poor do so that you can help the poor. Now, I grant you, the poverty vow as usually expressed in the Catholic church, Buddhist monks, etc, has little to do with that and more to do with self denial of the material so that one can draw closer to God. But in the world of the Uber liberal, there's something noble, something holy about such self denial to stand in solidarity for the poor masses.

It was not until a few short years ago that I began to comprehend what a truly flawed, truly half baked philosophy that was. It reminds me of an episode of "The Simpsons" where Bart is in special education, and he asks the question, "so we're behind the other students and we're supposed to catch up by going SLOWER?" It is, in short, naivete at its finest.

See, "solving" the problem of poverty requires having the resources to deal with the financial needs. Now, granted, throwing money at the problem is never a workable solution but there are some times, some places where money is an inescapable need to deal with the immediate issues. If a family is impoverished, for instance, because the primary breadwinner suffers from a severe case of hip dysplasia, it's not unreasonable to see hip replacement surgery as a viable, workable solution. Remedy the medical needs and help the wage earner to return to work, and you've improved the family's situation dramatically.

But the vast majority of America's poverty is poverty of the spirit. This is not necessarily true for the world at large, but it IS true of America. Most people who are chronically, consistently poor, are there because of something lacking that money generally will not solve. We don't help these people by throwing money at the problem; instead, we create a dependency that usually adds to the laundry list of issues that people in this situation have.

So what's the conscientious American to do about the poverty situation? Easy: Make money. Spend money. Give to charity. Because by making money, you increase the GDP of the region and the nation and thus create a healthy business climate. This allows others to have money and to spend it, extending your reach far further than you personally could. The same is true of spending money. Someone's livelihood is dependent on the things you buy, so your purchases often help those at the lowest end of the food chain. With greater profit margins, businesses can and do spend money helping out the less fortunate in various ways. WalMart, for instance, can afford to hire "greeters" who are otherwise marginally employable because they make enough money that it doesn't seriously affect their labor costs. If their margins were razor thin, the greeters would be the first ones out of work. As for giving to charity (time and money), well, that one's a no brainer.

So if you're of the persuasion that a vow of poverty brings you closer to God, by all means, I am no one to judge. But if you believe the myth that it somehow helps the poor, think again. It may very well be HURTING those you intend to help by robbing the workforce of an intelligent, capable individual who could contribute greatly to the well being of their community.