overheard: trickle-down justice

this evening i ran across this excellent piece by steve holt. give it a read.

"A friend of mine and I ate breakfast together today at our favorite cafe, as we do every week. Our part of the neighborhood is seeing an influx of young, urban professionals — “climbing the professional ladder,” as my friend put it. Broadly speaking, these folks are well-educated and left-leaning, with entrepreneurial personalities. They know how to have a good time, and local shindigs — beer dinners, meet-and-greets, and other social events — are frequent.

There seems to be a disconnect, though, in the lip service paid to acts of justice / social action and the direct work they do with their hands. (the mentoring, the tutoring, the serving) I could be missing it altogether, but I haven’t seen it. Lack of time seems to be a major factor here.

But almost unanimously, these folks will vote on Tuesday for Obama, whom they believe has the best policies to help the poor. But with the apparent lack of direct service with the disenfranchised, you might call their social philosophy “trickle-down justice.” Read More