By Matt Friedeman
September 29, 2005

(AgapePress) - There are some new billboards up in Sioux Falls and Mitchell, South Dakota, by some political partisans that, they say, are having the desired outcome.

"Jesus cares for the poor -- So do we."

"We" is a group, not officially associated with the Democrats but close enough that they dub themselves "Grassroot Democrats."

The chairwoman of the organization is giddy with the outcome of the campaign. "It's been phenomenal," says Lisa Engels. "We've gotten response from everywhere. Our Sioux Falls billboards got a lot of attention and most [people] contacted us after seeing them there. Enough people from Mitchell sent us money to put one up."

The topic of the poor is a biblically important one, of course. Republicans have probably not taken the topic as seriously as Scripture does; Democrats have talked about the impoverished, but have done precious little to actually improve their plight.

To the contrary, the Democrat's initial war on poverty, continued in too many ways by the GOP, have cost this nation trillions and served only to create a behavioral poverty that is nothing less than shocking. Here in Mississippi, the Democrats swooped in decades ago with a supposed passion for the poor, and sought to help, for instance, unwed mothers. Money for you if you are pregnant and without husband. More money if you have more children. No more money if you get a job, or get married.

And we are stunned -- stunned! -- when 75 percent of African-Americans in our state are born into a mother-only constellation (nearly half the state overall). And, as the illegitimacy rate climbs, so too does illiteracy, disease, and crime. And so what does the liberal -- presumably those who "love Jesus" and are Democrats -- want to do? Spend more money. And when money can be shown not to answer the problems that beset us? Spend more money.

Not to totally lay the blame on Democrats. Republicans have decided they too, with the clout that comes from being in the majority, can spend, and spend, and spend. Lost is the paradigm that once worked in this country: establish a personal relationship with the poor and find out what they really need, hold them accountable to better their lives by taking responsibility before further assistance is given, and apply spiritual answers to the heart of the matter.

Miss those simple steps and you can talk all you want about how you love Jesus and the poor, in the end you will probably hurt them rather than help them.

One wonders with those billboards if the real point is not helping or hurting, but getting an emotional rise out of viewers and making the point that, hey, our party can talk about Jesus, too.

And, it should be said, nothing is really wrong with talk. But, as the brother of Jesus instructs, "faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead." Loving the poor has little to do with billboards, and a lot with doing something about it.