Even though they have regularly been considered secondary in front of political rights, in part because of the difficulty to enforce them but also because of ideological postures that criminalize poverty as an always earned condition and place profit over persons, socio-economic rights are arguably at least as relevant as political rights. In fact, they are intertwined, and they rely upon each other to ensure the proper human and social development of the citizens of any given society. Absent political rights, individuals become oppressed by their society and any socio-economic benefit will be overweighted by political insecurity and lack of freedom. Absent socio-economic rights, persons can hardly achieve basic development and the capabilities to fully participate in the social and political life, and therefore, they become unable to enjoy their political rights. Following the example provided by the book, a family that sleeps on the street whose kids drink dirty water and eat scraps will most likely not participate at all in the political life. The most unfavoured and marginalized sectors of the US society tend to be politically apathetic. Moreover, countries with severe socio-economic rights usually combine this with weak political rights, or little capacity to protect them. It is time to give socio-economic rights the relevance they deserve.
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