So because of his economic realities he should be pragmatic enough to drop his values?

Can't you see what a slippery slope that is? And in fact, how dangerous that level of economic despair is for a functioning democracy?

It's also not fair, because people who are more fortunate to be born into a well-off family can eat vegan their whole lives.

This person did everything he was supposed to do, stood up for things he believed in, and still was left in the lurch along the way. This is not the American dream, it is a clear indication how arrested social mobility is in the US. The rags-to-riches "Horatio Alger" story has been a myth in the US for quite a well, buoyed by anecdotes that are predicated on luck.