America should treat all poor people as well as it treats poor veterans

Conservatives often get a free pass to trash welfare recipients while maintaining reverence for the troops. Enough is enough.

American soldiers
(Image credit: (AP Photo/Matt Slocum))

The message about American soldiers is almost always the same across partisan lines: They are hard-working, courageous, brave heroes, the essence of upstanding, wholesome, and industrious citizenry.

This picture may well be true. But there's a troubling underbelly to this ideal: Our culture's respect and admiration for the troops is matched in extremity by its disrespect for the poor.

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Matt Bruenig writes about poverty, inequality, and economic justice at Demos, Salon, The Atlantic, The American Prospect, and The Week. He is a Texas native and graduate of the University of Oklahoma.