Last week, the Mississippi House of Representatives Select Committee on Poverty conducted a public hearing in Laurel to discuss issues of poverty in Mississippi. Several of our local representatives attended the event, which was successfully spearheaded by State Rep. Omeria Scott. As a part of the hearing, an informative presentation on poverty was shared by representatives from Mississippi’s Institutions of Higher Learning. It was an important hearing to attend, and I was honored to have been invited.

After some initial presentations, an opportunity was allowed to ask questions and make comments. The group discussion quickly revolved around government assistance in combating poverty. Instead of searching for solutions of a personal or local nature, some among the crowd, which consisted of hardworking people, focused only on the responsibility of government. To be honest, it broke my heart, because government has already demonstrated that it cannot adequately satisfy their concerns.

To a few in our society, it has sadly become a generational habit to expect government to owe the benefits it confers, but impoverished Mississippians deserve more than false hopes provided by government programs and the false promises of government salvation. We have allowed government to wage its ineffective war on poverty for 44 years; now it is time for a different approach.

That is not to say that all government assistance is bad; we should applaud state agencies which labor tirelessly to assist our needy. Nor would I contend that it has accomplished nothing in its war on poverty. It is impossible to spend trillions of dollars and not deliver some positive benefits, but based on the obscene amount of money and time invested, positive returns have been negligible.

Government assistance may temporarily provide a menial existence for our most desperate, but it cannot permanently elevate the needy out of poverty. More often than not, the end result is an unattractive equal sharing of miseries between the poor and other economic segments of our society.

Instead of raising the poor up to the economic status of the working middle class, the majority of government assistance programs often result in unintended consequences, such as punishing the middle class by decreasing wealth accumulation through additional tax costs. Rest assured, while our taxpayers continue to struggle with the inflationary costs of fuel and groceries, the last thing they need is a higher tax burden.

If we are serious about lifting our neighbors out of poverty, we should first establish that government is not well-suited for such a role. Instead of relying on it to forcibly redistribute income, a long-term solution to poverty will only be found with individuals, families, churches and charitable organizations, in conjunction with private enterprise and creation of economic opportunity.

There are two related reasons why government has struggled with ending poverty, both of which have been ignored by ambitious politicians eager to purchase votes.

First, government does not create wealth. Second, government has no wealth of its own. For instance, in order to provide welfare assistance, it must collect money from somewhere, and that money comes from you and me.

Yet by divesting the taxpayer of the means to provide for his personal needs and by confiscating substantial income from society’s productive segments, government may actually harm those who are to arguably benefit from its benevolence. As the great burden of taxation is unfairly levied against a small percentage of Mississippi’s income earners, it becomes much more difficult to provide well-paying jobs for the unemployed or the poor.

Despite archaic talk about necessary taxation, those who advocate a redistributionist approach would be wise to remember – it is impossible to punish working Mississippians with an oppressive tax burden without also punishing our state’s poor.

Letting people keep more of their hard-earned money will eventually benefit everyone, including the impoverished, since more capital is available for use to start businesses, create jobs, stimulate the local economy and, yes, increase charitable giving. When the government takes less of our money in the form of taxation, there is more money available for entrepreneurial endeavors which produce economic opportunity. It is the creation of jobs, not handouts, that will effectively and permanently reduce poverty.

To encourage opportunity for each economic segment of society, we should demand smaller government, less regulation and lower taxes. By encouraging enterprise and providing economic opportunity for all, Mississippians will experience less reliance on government programs, an increased work ethic and a newfound sense of dignity. Moreover, new generations will realize the industrious nature of hope, liberty and happiness that are born as the result of the prideful elimination of dependence.

For most Mississippi families, poverty has only been one, two or three generations removed. It has always been the norm, the natural condition of mankind. The real story is therefore not how people in our state become poor but how some of our neighbors escaped from poverty. Their path to financial independence should be our focus.

By embracing strengths of diligence, quality education, dependable healthcare, personal responsibility, free enterprise and self-reliance, we should encourage the less fortunate to learn from lessons of success, while affording them the private charity they need to stand on their own.