by George McGovern, Bob Dole,
and Donald E. Messer

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review by Stan Thornburg

Every expert in the United Nations complex in Rome knows that there is enough food, enough food-processing potential, and enough distribution know-how to end hunger in the world. Every one of them knows, whatever their moral or spiritual orientation, that all the religions of the earth command us to feed the hungry. Every informed person knows deep in his soul that there is not reason for a single child to cry herself to sleep from pangs of hunger. (p. 24)

In the underdeveloped two-thirds of the world—known as the “two-thirds world”—there are approximately 850 million people (300 million of whom are children) who are hungry right now and 30,000 of that number who will starve to death before this time tomorrow.

That pretty much sums up the situation about which George McGovern, Bob Dole, and Donald Messer collaborate and elaborate in Ending Hunger Now: A Challenge to Persons of Faith. This is a terrifying book. Just the statistics that cite the numbers of starving, dying, AIDS-infected, poverty-stricken, illiterate, and oppressed people of the earth are overwhelming. Even worse is the realization that grows as the pages pile up on one another that nothing really heroic or sensational is going to happen in the near future. And the most frightening thing of all is that the two politicians among the authors (Dole and McGovern), who play central roles in the politics of hunger, aren't outraged.

There are things to like about this book—things worth noting and discussing among your peers. The first chapter, “The New Urgency of an Old Challenge” (Messer's chapter), presents a clear overview of hunger in our world and offers an eight-point summary of biblical/theological perspectives that place the problem of hunger squarely in the lap of Christians. Messer doesn't scold here but squares off by addressing the problems behind the problem:

We act like ending hunger is an ethical option rather than a moral obligation. We deceive ourselves by making up excuses why we cannot do more. We rationalize that “It is the responsibility of the government to act,” or that “the poor deserve being hungry because they have so many children,” or that “since the problem is so large, there is little, if anything, I can do.” ...We regularly eat excessively and consume far more than any of us really need. We seem totally ensnared by our chosen cultural standards of living and cannot escape the prisons of our affluence, the chains of obesity, and the handcuffs of self-indulgence. (p.16)

He asks his readers very sobering questions about our country's inability to garner sufficient political will to mobilize and act compassionately to end hunger in the world. “How high must be the pile of statistics of hungry people? How high must be the pile of dead people? How high must be the pile of Bible verses? What will awaken the people of God from their comatose state?” (quoting Craig L. Nessan, p. 16).

McGovern authors the second chapter, which immediately moves from passion to politics. The ironies pile up almost as fast as the bodies of those who are starving in our world. McGovern allows for a generous period of 25 years (until 2030) for us to solve the world hunger problems (that in a book entitled Ending Hunger Now, after the book acknowledges that we have the food AND the technology to solve the problem today). To explain this seemingly unacceptable delay, McGovern's vehicle of choice is the UN. He takes us on a short tour of that body's vision, progress, and plan for addressing the hunger problem. He cites several very encouraging and noteworthy programs that are doing wonderful things in a variety of regions to address suffering from hunger. But between the lines and beneath his rhetoric these questions still linger: If 800 million starving people were seen as a genuine international crisis, couldn't all this be done in a year? In five years?

To his credit, McGovern does make some suggestions for addressing the hunger problem. Suggestions include asking one's billionaire friends to be more generous, giving the American farmer a personal pat on the back for the food supply we enjoy, boning up on the UN and its work, and making sure your local denomination has an international arm (pp. 44-46). I didn't take notes on this section.

Bob Dole then writes a short chapter chronicling a variety of government programs and international efforts aimed at the hunger problem. He even advocates using five billion dollars of the money earmarked for fighting terrorism (out of a total of 40 billion in 2002) to address hunger as a way of reducing the cause of terrorism. (One can't help but reflect on the vast sums of money that since then we have poured into “fighting terrorism,” wondering if it might have been better to use those funds to fight hunger instead.) Dole acknowledges the crux of the problem as he closes the chapter:

Even on great moral issues like ending hunger, there must be a political and social will that moves the leaders of both political parties to devote their time, energy, and political capital to such an endeavor. Like any important national issue, we must be able to explain why our campaign to end hunger should be a national priority. We must be able to justify designating precious and scarce resources to eradicating hunger around the world. (pp. 59-66)

Evidently Mr. Dole didn't read the first chapter of the book. Isn't the scope of hunger and suffering—the “hunger tsunami” which strikes down 210,000 persons a week—enough justification?

Chapter four is an interesting conversation between the three authors. It reads like sound bites from political campaigns patched together into a conversation. But in spite of the posturing there are a few noteworthy moments. Dole mentions that the hunger problem would be easier to solve if only the presidents of those other countries would accept our genetically engineered food. McGovern tries to mitigate Dole's comment a bit (p. 76). Dole also mentions that, in the absence of lobbyists from these poor countries, “it is hard to get Congress to focus on something 10,000 mile away.” (Insert your own cynical response here.) Okay, to be fair, there are also helpful comments and insights in this chapter. It is worth reading the comments about AIDS, poverty, domestic programs, and legislative solutions.

And, thankfully, there is the last chapter, also by Messer, which provides most of what one would hope to gain from such a book, i.e., some very practical ways to think and act personally to do one's part in the battle against world hunger. He elaborates very helpfully on four categories of personal action: Make a commitment to become personally involved; link personal involvement with spiritual faith; advocate and support faith-based organizations that make a difference (he lists 16 such organizations); get others involved in the fight for a hunger-free world. This chapter is one I can use. Along with the helpful suggestions, Messer's discussion of the difference between justice and charity provides important insight into the why of much of the apathy that seems to surround issues of hunger, poverty, and disease.

There are enough good statistics, quotes, and insights into the politics of hunger to make this book valuable as a resource, but if its intent is to provide encouragement and hope for ending hunger now (or even soon), it falls far short of its purpose.

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