Testing America's Moral Commitment to Justice
In 2012, Sandra Belk of Charlotte, North Carolina lost her long battle with breast cancer. Her husband Terry had quit his job as a car salesman to care for her. Then he was diagnosed with prostate cancer. The medical bills piled up, so he signed a deed of trust which gives the hospital where she was treated $23,000 when he sells his home. Then the hospital sued him for $6,000 to cover his prostate cancer treatment. He’s now trying to pay that debt, which is hard since it keeps accruing interest.
TiAnna Yeldell, a single mom of three, ages 8, 14 and 18, lives in Missouri City, Texas. During the day, she drives for Pizza Hutt, earning $9.50 an hour. At night, she cleans trains for Houston’s Metro system, earning about $17 an hour. A typical work-week for her is 80 hours. When both shifts come on the same day she gets only 2-3 hours of sleep.
Americans own 35 percent of the world’s wealth yet comprise just over 4 percent of the world’s population. How is it that Terry Belk has to struggle with paying for critical medical care and TiAnna Yeldell has to work such long hours to care for her family?
Terry Belk is not alone. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, Americans owe some $220 billion in medical debt. Even having insurance is no guarantee bills will be covered. About 6% of U.S. adults (roughly 14 million people) carry medical debt of more than $1,000. One percent owe more than $10,000. People in medical debt often forgo needed medical care they cannot afford.
Nor is TiAnna Yeldell alone. Twenty states still have a minimum wage of $7.25 per hour, the requirement in federal law. Only 11 states set the minimum wage at $15 per hour or above. At $7.25 per hour, a family of four with one wage earner, assuming no pay is lost for sick or other leave, would earn only 47 percent of the federal poverty level. Even at $15 an hour the yearly wage of $31,200 still falls below the federal poverty level.
There is nothing illegal about what is happening to Terry Belk, TiAnna Yeldell and others in similar circumstances. But what is lawful is not always just.
Americans are fluent in notions of freedom. Are Americans mired in medical debt and unable to earn a living wage free? Americans understand the importance of the rule of law, but laws that devalue human dignity and the pursuit of happiness cannot be what our founders had in mind.
“Justice is the end of government. It is the end of civil society,” James Madison wrote in defending the Constitution. The Constitution states as its first obligation to “establish Justice.” When politics promotes justice it serves us well. Yet in today’s polarized politics justice too often takes a back seat to the goal of dividing Americans against each other and protecting the interests of the few. Both major political parties are failing people like Terry Belk and TiAnna Yeldell.
Built in 1931, Philadelphia’s Dunbar Elementary School needs major repairs. An evaluation of all city schools completed in 2017 found the cost of all repairs would be $5 billion. Dunbar had a leaky roof, a broken heating system and faulty windows, yet it was not the worst. A 2022 assessment of two-thirds of the city’s schools found that 40 percent were still in unsatisfactory condition.
Many rural schools face the same problem. For 19 years, students in Sleetmute, Alaska have waited for the state government to provide funds to repair the leaky roof in their school. The water has produced mold, rotted supporting beams and caused a wall to buckle. The school serves mostly Alaska Native students. In 2021 an architect said the school “should be condemned as it is unsafe for occupancy.”
The National Center for Education Statistics and the American Society of Civil Engineers indicate there are nearly 100,000 American school buildings serving about 49 million students that need major updates.
As with Terry Belk and TiAnna Yeldell, the fact that over fifty percent of the nation’s students are in faulty, often unsafe school buildings defies the promise of a just society.
Medical debt, poverty wages and crumbling schools are American, not red or blue issues. They plague those who identify as Republicans and those who identify as Democrats. We may debate the causes of and solutions for these problems, but the current outcomes are, quite simply, unfair. They challenge our moral commitment to each other, to a just society and cast shame on a political system that fails to respond.
James Madison added after the previous sentence that justice “ever has been, and ever will be pursued, until it be obtained or until liberty be lost in the pursuit.” When people feel they are treated unfairly, they become angry and that can, as Madison warned, be dangerous for individuals and society. Our moral commitment to justice and practical steps to ensure basic fairness are our best defense against that outcome.
Photo Credit: usatoday.com
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