“For a large share of Americans, the U.S. labor market no longer works as a reliable way to build a stable career and support their families. This was true before the job losses of the current recession (as of October 2011, the country had 6.3 million fewer jobs since the start of the recession in December 2007). And unless there are structural changes in the economy, it will be true again once the recession has passed. Down on the bottom rungs of the economic ladder, where too many people who once had middle-income careers now reside, the real value of wages when adjusted for inflation has been declining for years.”

If by “ending hunger” you mean fixing what it broke, then yes–in 2017 government should make ending hunger a priority. I love this article, but it seems to suggest that pumping more money into an already bloated system is the solution when for the past decade it’s been our biggest cause for concern. Sorry, Margot. But as long as we keep paying their salaries, government elites will just keep smiling and telling us what we want to hear. Giving them “more flexibility” only exacerbates the problem.

“We can’t allow political parties to define how we engage in the public arena—Scripture should guide our thinking. If we make political issues essentially partisan, then we’ve lost the battle to create a sensitive, nuanced political perspective, which is something that evangelical Christians are hungry for. Concerned Christian citizens can advocate. Christians can rise above partisanship to care for God’s people.”