We’re scolded for blaming the poor, judging their lifestyle choices, says Elise Hilton in this week’s Acton Commentary. But what good can we do if we refuse to look at systemic issues?

We are told that we are guilty of blaming the poor, judging their lifestyle choices. But what good can we do if we refuse to look at systemic issues that indeed cause poverty: irresponsible sexual choices, dropping out of school, a revolving door of men in women’s and children’s lives? We must not demonize the poor, but we must cut the roots of poverty. And we need to be truthful – brutally so – to do that.

The full text of her essay, Maria Shriver’s Big, Big Government Rescue Plan For Women, can be found here. Subscribe to the free, weekly Acton News & Commentary and other publications here.