John Edwards is on the road to one America. Yesterday this road took him to Marks, Mississippi. It must have been 27 years ago that early one morning I drove from Jackson up to Marks. I had an appointment to interview Rev. Brown—a black pastor who was actively caring for more than just people’s souls. Visiting Marks is a reality check. Poverty and racism seem unabated. Despite the good work of Rev. Brown and others, I expect progress in the last 27 years is dismal.

The road to one America has me thinking about the relationship between hope and poverty. Poverty is measured in dollars, but I’m wondering if hope would be a better measurement. The trap of poverty includes the ways our society sucks the hope out of people on the lower rungs of the socio-economic ladder.

I’m thinking money and hope are a lot like the chicken and egg.