When did it become acceptable to bash the poor?

Those who exploit the powerless anger their maker, while those who are kind to the poor honor God.   - Proverbs 14:31 (CEB)

When did it become acceptable to bash the poor?

In the distant past we had poor houses, debtors court, and debtors prison. These institutions eventually gave way to the advance of society as a sense of morals and virtues turned our intentions from further subjugating, shaming, hiding and condemning those living in poverty, to trying to lift the poor out of poverty through assistance, compassion and charity. We appealed to each others better qualities and recognized that our society grows stronger by raising the weakest of us.
We recognized that the pool of productive resources, citizens, was being hindered by the exclusion of a significant portion of the population, the children of poor, lower income Americans. We started by paying attention to the importance of early childhood development and social preparedness. Free school breakfast and lunch programs, welfare, food stamp and higher education grants and low income loan programs, along with means tested benefits for low income families were established.
Work programs for the unemployed prior to and following World War II, along with the establishment of the GI Bill after World War II were implemented to assist people in getting on their feet, increasing opportunities for developing job skills, work histories and experiences.
We also recognized that we had to stop the practice of abandoning to poverty a portion of our population who had done their part in contributing to society; the elderly worker who could no longer compete for a job, the elderly widowed homemaker who no longer had a breadwinner in the house, the injured worker who was no longer employable and the displaced worker who was temporarily unemployed. Social Security, workmen's compensation, and unemployment insurance were instituted.

This shift in society from shunning and condemning the poor and less fortunate to celebrating the potential of every person to contribute to society and in the long term to also benefit from society could probably best be summed up in the phrase, "A rising tide lifts all boats".

As the American culture shifted from 2 class society (upper and lower class) to a more productive 3 class society we can contribute the shift to a transformation from "I've got mine, you get yours" attitude of citizenship to a more compassionate "I am my brothers keeper". The land of opportunity mythology of the pre- World War I era was one that offered little real opportunity for those on the lower rungs of society. The rich upper class, mostly segregated from the populace, did little more than token charity for the poorer lower class. Lacking skill, public education and capitol the poor's opportunity for progress was limited as wages and opportunity were stifled by a protectionist upper class, who through political and economic means deprived the average man of any real chance for self improvement. Only by great struggles and effort, and sometimes luck, did a few --just enough to keep the illusion of opportunity alive-- raise themselves up. The closest society had to a middle class was the merchant class, which was just as hard to break into as it was to break out of. Prosperous to a degree but suffering from a stagnation that tide them to the stature of the clientele they served. A business or service that catered to the rich enjoyed a smaller clientele, but greater profit. A business that catered to the poor, while having a larger potential customer base had limited resources to expand their customer base. Their profit capabilities were restricted both by geography and the poverty of the masses.

The introduction of unions in America served to begin the shift from an uninformed, un-united, uneducated public to a more enlightened lower class, the "if working" class. The average man, poor or working poor, because that was the only type of worker there was started to question the status quo, the inequities, and oppressive nature of American Society. The concept of uniting together as a form of power was at the root of Unionism.

The rich and prosperous had pooled their resources (capitol, wealth, and knowledge) in the form of partnerships and corporations to obtain and maintain power, both financial and political. The poor and working poor learned to pool their resources (labor, determination and numbers) in the form of unions, fraternity, and grass root politics to obtain power, opportunities, and security. It is no coincidence that their are two types of corporations in America; for-profit (business) and not-for-profit (many of which are unions).
While corporations and unions may appear to be contrary to one another, their goal and genesis are both based on the principle of pooling the resources of individuals for the benefit of their respective members.  But, whether for profit or non-profit there are two significant difference between corporations and unions that has to do with their respective motives for unifying, level of responsibility and level of representation.

 

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