Peter Edelman Poverty In America

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In the essay “Poverty in America: Why can’t we end it?” Peter Edelman laments over the ever present issue of Americans living below the poverty line. He enlightens his readers to the possibility of changing what has become the status quo with a passionate voice. Going through several notable changes in tone to convey a strong yet somewhat subjected point Edelman educates his reader through poverty statistics pulled from credible sources. He then manages to balance out the dire news with noted success in fighting poverty in America. Delving further into his essay, Edelman presents his own ideas and solutions to help end or at the very least decrease poverty. His message in the end is easily understood but ineffective as it unfortunately reeks of a political agenda being clumsily force-fed to the reader. According to Edelman, poverty levels in America are at a standstill but only because of the efforts put in already to combat it. With those previous provisions under attack by political ideologies and the ever growing wage gap, the burden of solving poverty will no doubt fall on the …show more content…
While conveying the existence of a poverty problem and solutions to said problem, Edelman inadvertently picks a side on the issue. That side being liberal. By failing to back up his proposed solutions with supporting evidence this essay loses its objective edge. Without offering evidence as to why his claims are correct Edelman is only convincing those who already believe as he does. So while preaching to the choir sounds and feels nice it does nothing to further his cause. Having more backing for his claims would strengthen his argument and persuade those who are neutral and possibly objective thinkers with an opposing opinion. Edelman seems to have written a political essay caught somewhere between informative and persuasive utilizing a pathos

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