F*ck The Poor:
Who Is Really More Compassionate?
My buddy "Fred" is the one who is really the inspiration behind this book. He sent me the e-mail I mentioned in the last chapter in which he complained about the Ayn Rand/Paul Ryan connection. When I sent him a reply defending both Ryan and Rand, he responded that, in his opinion, Paul Ryan typifies the Republican party's attitude towards those in poverty: F*** the poor! Really? Is that impression based upon any evidence, or is it just a shallow us/them argument with no regard for reality? Can it really be true that conservatives are just selfish greedheads with no concern for anyone else? It's kind of hard to believe that an entire movement of people, half the population no less, are cold hearted monsters. But, this is what the other half believes. Scary the degree to which they hold people who disagree with them with such contempt, eh? But, then, there you have that ridiculous left-wing meme rearing its ugly head once again. Republicans are mean, evil, racist, homophobic, greedy Nazis. And all this coming from an intelligent guy that considers himself an "independent". My, my, my has the left's control of the Matrix been successful in twisting reality or what?
I am sad to say that this is a very typical world view for anyone who has swallowed the blue pill and lives in the make believe world of the progressive narrative. What blows my mind is how effectively the Democrats and their media allies have spun the tale of their own compassion and Republican meanness. In doing so they've been able to hide in plain sight the massive elephant in the room: the truth about their efforts to help the poor. It's not working! Not only that, but their policies have made matters worse. Much worse. And the Democrat party, from Barack Hussein Obama on down are willing to fight tooth and nail to maintain every single brick, stick and piece of plaster on this edifice of massive failure.
Think about this for a second. The national debt is now over $16 Trillion. Since the beginning of the Great Society in the 1964 we have spent around $16 Trillion dollars fighting a war on poverty. Wow! Can it really be true that just about the entire national debt was spent trying to aid the poor? Pretty much. A percentage of that money was spent by the States, but the sad reality is that had we not embarked on LBJ's Ahabian quest to slay the white whale of privation, we would be in much, much better financial shape than we are today. Okay then, at least we ended poverty in America, right? Uh, no. Poverty is actually the same now as it was when we started:
I am sad to say that this is a very typical world view for anyone who has swallowed the blue pill and lives in the make believe world of the progressive narrative. What blows my mind is how effectively the Democrats and their media allies have spun the tale of their own compassion and Republican meanness. In doing so they've been able to hide in plain sight the massive elephant in the room: the truth about their efforts to help the poor. It's not working! Not only that, but their policies have made matters worse. Much worse. And the Democrat party, from Barack Hussein Obama on down are willing to fight tooth and nail to maintain every single brick, stick and piece of plaster on this edifice of massive failure.
Think about this for a second. The national debt is now over $16 Trillion. Since the beginning of the Great Society in the 1964 we have spent around $16 Trillion dollars fighting a war on poverty. Wow! Can it really be true that just about the entire national debt was spent trying to aid the poor? Pretty much. A percentage of that money was spent by the States, but the sad reality is that had we not embarked on LBJ's Ahabian quest to slay the white whale of privation, we would be in much, much better financial shape than we are today. Okay then, at least we ended poverty in America, right? Uh, no. Poverty is actually the same now as it was when we started:
In the Fifty years since LBJ, we have built the edifice of the entitlement state that the progressives dreamed for us. However, despite having spent umpteen trillion dollars, we have still managed to consign three generations of Americans to poverty and dependency in our inner cities. In so doing, we have created huge federal housing, food and medical programs that threaten to bankrupt the country and make all of us as poor as those we have been trying to help.
2======================================================================================================
As Ronald Reagan once said, we declared war on poverty and poverty won:
2======================================================================================================
As Ronald Reagan once said, we declared war on poverty and poverty won:
You see, it's never enough. It's like the progressive view of communism. It's not that the theory is flawed, they say, it's just never been implemented right. Therefore, despite all the evidence of the massive failure of the Great Society, what does the modern left under President Obama and Nancy Pelosi propose to do about it? Hey, let's double down on everything and defend every last failed program to the bitter end. Results be damned:
As Bill O'Reilly points out, we could just directly redistribute money directly to the poor and end poverty today. All it would take would be to expand the Earned Income Tax Credit and let the IRS determine who is eligible and then distribute the checks. However, that would leave the politicians out of the loop and leave hundreds of thousands of bureaucrats out of work. Well we certainly can't have that! Why, that would be the end of the Democrats being able to control the distribution of the goodies and their ability to continue on in their roles as poverty pimps keeping the poor on the liberal plantation. It would also totally shatter the illusion that welfare is meant to help people to get back on their feet again when they suffer hard times instead of being a redistributionist one way ticket to life-long dependency for so many millions of people. You think I am being too harsh? Then ask yourself how someone could look at fifty years of unmitigated failure in our inner cities, the incredible rise of illegitimacy and the culture of dependency and still be in a favor of a further continuation of those same programs while pissing ever more Trillions of dollars down the drain.
Now, I am not actually suggesting that we directly redistribute wealth, but I am positing that it might be a more effective alternative than what we are currently doing. I'd like to think that the "smartest" man who has ever been President, who says he cares so much about those who are less fortunate, would have at least used some of his brainpower to come up with something, anything, new in terms of proposals to help them. Yet, all he has done is to increase funding to the same programs that have achieved nothing but abysmal failure:
Now, I am not actually suggesting that we directly redistribute wealth, but I am positing that it might be a more effective alternative than what we are currently doing. I'd like to think that the "smartest" man who has ever been President, who says he cares so much about those who are less fortunate, would have at least used some of his brainpower to come up with something, anything, new in terms of proposals to help them. Yet, all he has done is to increase funding to the same programs that have achieved nothing but abysmal failure:
3=======================================================================================================
How bad a travestry is the Obama way to fix poverty? Well, take a look at this chart:
How bad a travestry is the Obama way to fix poverty? Well, take a look at this chart:
More money and more money after that. Yet, no improvement in the levels of poverty. In fact the situation in our inner cities has gotten worse. The tragic reality of the Democrats policies is not only have they bankrupted the country, but as a side benefit, they have destroyed the families of those they have tried to help. I mean, really, why have a father when you can have a "baby daddy" and have Uncle Sam pick up the tab. Heck, as a mere "baby daddy", if you aren't the one working to support your children, why bother to stick around to raise them?
As a result of these shortsighted policies, the African-American family structure has completely broken down. The current rate of illegitimacy in the Black community is over 70%. This is three times the level it was when the Great Society was launched. Having children out of wedlock, is almost a guaranteed sentence to a life of poverty for the mother and her child. This we know from empirical evidence :
As a result of these shortsighted policies, the African-American family structure has completely broken down. The current rate of illegitimacy in the Black community is over 70%. This is three times the level it was when the Great Society was launched. Having children out of wedlock, is almost a guaranteed sentence to a life of poverty for the mother and her child. This we know from empirical evidence :
What's worse, children who grow up without a father tend to have more problems than those who do:
Father-absence promotes anti-social behavior as well as criminal activity and psychological problems.
Delinquency of children, and in particular boys, is promoted by father-absence.29 The problems with not having fathers in children’s lives can be so severe that they can cause an 86% increase in the likelihood that a child will become a psychotic delinquent. 30 Some of the widely recognized statistics of the ills, and cost to society of father-absence include; 90% of all homeless and runaway children,31 70% of juveniles in state-operated institutions,32 75% of all adolescent patients in chemical abuse centers,33 85% of prison youths,34 and talk about promoting a danger to women -- up to 80% of rapists, motivated by displaced anger.35 There is also a threefold increase in the likelihood that a child will be involved in gang activity.36
Over the existing population, there is a 200% increase in the likelihood that a child will require psychological treatment 37 with 85% of all father-absent children exhibiting behavioral disorders38 This is a crucial point for consideration for every attorney, and every judge that separates a fit father from his children. They are PROMOTING behavioral disorders. Low self-esteem is suffered by both girls 39 and boys.40 There is a 200% increase in attempted or successful teen suicides 41 with 63% of all [successful] youth suicides from fatherless homes.42
Academic performance is severely affected
Father-absence creates a significant decrease in school performance, 43 a significant increase in disruptive school behavior, 44 a significant decrease in performance on aptitude tests, in cognitive skills, in terms of grades, and is cumulative in nature; 45 and predicts truancy and grade repetition. 46 Fatherless children also account for 71% of all high school dropouts. 47 Some of the affects of this low academic achievement can be seen in the substantial increase in men’s odds of ending up in the lowest occupational stratum 48 repeating the "illegitimacy cycle, and ending up "dead-broke" unable to support their children.
In contrast to this academic destruction of children, father-present children "are more likely to get mostly A’s, to enjoy school, and to participate in extracurricular activities if their nonresident fathers are involved in their schools than if they are not." The report laments that "[t]he majority of nonresident fathers, however, are not involved in their children’s schools." 49 There are ample studies to show (explored later) that this is not entirely by their choice.
Sounds alarming, doesn't it? Now, I want to be clear, the information above came from a group called the Alliance For Non-Custodial Parent's Rights, so perhaps they got carried away with their advocacy. However, the articles they cite as evidence jibe very well with the written research on illegitimacy and its effects on children. So, any way you slice it, creating a situation that encourages women to have children out of wedlock is a mistake of tragic consequence. Yet, this has been the policy of the Democrat party for the past fifty years.
4=======================================================================================================
What they have said to the young women of the inner city is all you have to do is F*** and nine months later you'll be getting the big bucks:
Father-absence promotes anti-social behavior as well as criminal activity and psychological problems.
Delinquency of children, and in particular boys, is promoted by father-absence.29 The problems with not having fathers in children’s lives can be so severe that they can cause an 86% increase in the likelihood that a child will become a psychotic delinquent. 30 Some of the widely recognized statistics of the ills, and cost to society of father-absence include; 90% of all homeless and runaway children,31 70% of juveniles in state-operated institutions,32 75% of all adolescent patients in chemical abuse centers,33 85% of prison youths,34 and talk about promoting a danger to women -- up to 80% of rapists, motivated by displaced anger.35 There is also a threefold increase in the likelihood that a child will be involved in gang activity.36
Over the existing population, there is a 200% increase in the likelihood that a child will require psychological treatment 37 with 85% of all father-absent children exhibiting behavioral disorders38 This is a crucial point for consideration for every attorney, and every judge that separates a fit father from his children. They are PROMOTING behavioral disorders. Low self-esteem is suffered by both girls 39 and boys.40 There is a 200% increase in attempted or successful teen suicides 41 with 63% of all [successful] youth suicides from fatherless homes.42
Academic performance is severely affected
Father-absence creates a significant decrease in school performance, 43 a significant increase in disruptive school behavior, 44 a significant decrease in performance on aptitude tests, in cognitive skills, in terms of grades, and is cumulative in nature; 45 and predicts truancy and grade repetition. 46 Fatherless children also account for 71% of all high school dropouts. 47 Some of the affects of this low academic achievement can be seen in the substantial increase in men’s odds of ending up in the lowest occupational stratum 48 repeating the "illegitimacy cycle, and ending up "dead-broke" unable to support their children.
In contrast to this academic destruction of children, father-present children "are more likely to get mostly A’s, to enjoy school, and to participate in extracurricular activities if their nonresident fathers are involved in their schools than if they are not." The report laments that "[t]he majority of nonresident fathers, however, are not involved in their children’s schools." 49 There are ample studies to show (explored later) that this is not entirely by their choice.
Sounds alarming, doesn't it? Now, I want to be clear, the information above came from a group called the Alliance For Non-Custodial Parent's Rights, so perhaps they got carried away with their advocacy. However, the articles they cite as evidence jibe very well with the written research on illegitimacy and its effects on children. So, any way you slice it, creating a situation that encourages women to have children out of wedlock is a mistake of tragic consequence. Yet, this has been the policy of the Democrat party for the past fifty years.
4=======================================================================================================
What they have said to the young women of the inner city is all you have to do is F*** and nine months later you'll be getting the big bucks:
Warning! Explicit Lyrics!
So how much can a young woman make by making a child with a "baby daddy" and then sending the bill to Uncle Sam? When you add up Temporary (Hah! What a Joke!) Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) , the S-Chip program that covers the children's health care, the Medicaid that covers the mother, the Section 8 money that covers the rent, Energy Assistance, and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP: aka Food Stamps):
Warning! Explicit Lyrics!
A free Obama Phone:
and a free car:
5=======================================================================================================
It all adds up to a lot of taxpayer money, which is known in the inner cities as Obama Bucks:
It all adds up to a lot of taxpayer money, which is known in the inner cities as Obama Bucks:
Now, obviously, families on welfare don't get all of that. Government workers take a huge piece as well. A HUGE piece! However, the benefits are enough that the poor in the United States live better than middle class people do in most countries on earth:
Now, this chart was compiled seven years ago. Imagine what it is today. I bet the number of big screen TV's, blu-ray players and Xbox and Playstations has increased substantially, eh? As a result of all this Federal and State largesse, too many young women are given a massive incentive to have children out of wedlock. The sad result of this misguided policy is that more and more children in the US are being born into poverty:
6======================================================================================================
So, what do we have to show for spending the entirety of our $16 Trillion dollar national debt? Millions upon millions of children are born into a situation in which their odds of succeeding in life are often overwhelmingly against them. Just wonderful, eh? Way to go Obama!
What about the men who are no longer necessary to the maintenance of the family now that Uncle Sam is picking up the bills? They've had their titles as father's stripped away and have been reduced to nothing more than sperm donors called baby daddies. Without father's in the home as positive role models for their sons and, devoid of the civilizing influences of families of their own, many of these men turn towards crime. Too many. In fact, 30 percent of African-American males ages 20 to 29 are "under correctional supervision" meaning either in jail or prison or on probation or parole. That is a crime in more ways than one.
Yet, year after year we pump ever more money into the same policies. The Democrats, particularly the politicians from the inner cities, even have the gall to ask for more. This year alone we will blow nearly a Trillion dollars down the same vortex that has swallowed up the national debt. Not to help people help themselves, but to continue a culture or illegitimacy, dependency and crime. The plain fact of the matter is that receiving checks from the government for doing nothing leads to a sense of entitlement and is as addictive as heroin. Nowadays, once you are in the system, everything is done for you. Your rent check is paid automatically. Your EBT card is replenished automatically. The government doesn't even expect anyone to learn how to pay their own bills or even need to do their own banking. They have been completely infantilized. Uncle Sammy does it all for them because progressive politicians don't think the recipients are capable of doing it for themselves. The heck with teaching people how to fish, they just feed it to them. By the bucketful!
You'd think that with all these people riding in the cart that the rest of working Americans are pulling, that they'd at least be grateful. But, you'd be wrong. First of all, most people that I've known that are on welfare are absolutely ignorant as to where the money comes from to pay their benefits:
So, what do we have to show for spending the entirety of our $16 Trillion dollar national debt? Millions upon millions of children are born into a situation in which their odds of succeeding in life are often overwhelmingly against them. Just wonderful, eh? Way to go Obama!
What about the men who are no longer necessary to the maintenance of the family now that Uncle Sam is picking up the bills? They've had their titles as father's stripped away and have been reduced to nothing more than sperm donors called baby daddies. Without father's in the home as positive role models for their sons and, devoid of the civilizing influences of families of their own, many of these men turn towards crime. Too many. In fact, 30 percent of African-American males ages 20 to 29 are "under correctional supervision" meaning either in jail or prison or on probation or parole. That is a crime in more ways than one.
Yet, year after year we pump ever more money into the same policies. The Democrats, particularly the politicians from the inner cities, even have the gall to ask for more. This year alone we will blow nearly a Trillion dollars down the same vortex that has swallowed up the national debt. Not to help people help themselves, but to continue a culture or illegitimacy, dependency and crime. The plain fact of the matter is that receiving checks from the government for doing nothing leads to a sense of entitlement and is as addictive as heroin. Nowadays, once you are in the system, everything is done for you. Your rent check is paid automatically. Your EBT card is replenished automatically. The government doesn't even expect anyone to learn how to pay their own bills or even need to do their own banking. They have been completely infantilized. Uncle Sammy does it all for them because progressive politicians don't think the recipients are capable of doing it for themselves. The heck with teaching people how to fish, they just feed it to them. By the bucketful!
You'd think that with all these people riding in the cart that the rest of working Americans are pulling, that they'd at least be grateful. But, you'd be wrong. First of all, most people that I've known that are on welfare are absolutely ignorant as to where the money comes from to pay their benefits:
When Barack Obama was elected Preezy of the United Steezy, many Americans thought that meant that he was going to take good care of them. I wonder why. It couldn't have been all those promises about slowing the rise of the oceans, could it? I mean, taking care of the gas and the rent is nothing compared to that:
Work? Why work when someone else will pay the bill. If you work you are a sucker. That's the attitude that Nancy Pelosi's daughter discoverd when she took a trip down to the welfare office in New York City:
7=======================================================================================================
So deep is the sense of entitlement, that somehow by the very fact that they were born, these individuals feel they deserve something from "society". They don't see it as stealing from their neighbor who wakes up at the crack of dawn every morning to go "make the donuts". Oh, no. They've been told that the money comes from those evil corporations and those greedy rich people. Taking from The Man isn't just ok, it's justice! That this is a total lie is irrelevant. It is what they've been programmed to believe by years of progressive spin and it's what they want to believe so that they can continue to "swipe that EBT" with a clear conscience.
Here's a woman that won the lottery. The Lottery! Yet, she still felt she was deserving of food stamps. Unbelievable:
So deep is the sense of entitlement, that somehow by the very fact that they were born, these individuals feel they deserve something from "society". They don't see it as stealing from their neighbor who wakes up at the crack of dawn every morning to go "make the donuts". Oh, no. They've been told that the money comes from those evil corporations and those greedy rich people. Taking from The Man isn't just ok, it's justice! That this is a total lie is irrelevant. It is what they've been programmed to believe by years of progressive spin and it's what they want to believe so that they can continue to "swipe that EBT" with a clear conscience.
Here's a woman that won the lottery. The Lottery! Yet, she still felt she was deserving of food stamps. Unbelievable:
Yep. Just keep those checks coming! Who cares where it comes from right? Obama’s got a stash! So, let’s go get some of that Obama money eh? Win two million bucks in the lottery? Don’t worry about it, the government will keep on sending the checks:
When people who win millions in the lottery still feel that they are somehow deserving of a couple of hundred bucks worth of free lunches every single month, you know something has gone seriously wrong in our society. Its that same feeling we get when we realize how utterly all of our best intentions have turned to dust. A classic example is the billions wasted on "urban planning" . This was supposed to be one of the crown jewels of liberal intelligentsia where the smartest, brightest and most compassionate Democrats thought they could design little progressive utopias that the poor could live in peace and harmony with each other. They razed whole neighborhoods to the ground and replaced them with hellholes like Cabrini Green and Robert Taylor Homes in Chicago. Within just a few short decades, the government thought it wiser to demolish these jewels of progressive urban design rather than force people to live in the world of misery, crime, prostitution and drugs they had become. So much for the best and brightest minds, eh?
8=======================================================================================================
The inescapable truth is that when you look at the record of the last fifty years worth of what the Democrats call compassion, it is difficult to see any silver lining in these dark clouds. I would posit to you for your reasoned consideration that the way we have dealt with poverty in America has been an unmitigated disaster and we should fix it before we lose yet another generation of Americans to illegitimacy, drugs, crime and dependency. Not just because to continue these policies is unaffordable, but primarily because it ruins lives. Intentions shmentions. Results do matter. The fact that the policies of the left have perpetuated a problem rather than solved it is the only factor worth evaluating. Particularly considering that millions of lives are at stake. I think that fifty years of failure is enough evidence to say that progressive prescriptions for America are killing the patient.
Think about their record. In the name of "fairness", Democrats created Social Security. It is bankrupt! Democrats created Medicare. It is bankrupt! Democrats created Medicaid. It , too, is a primary reason we have the high deficits that are leading to national insovency! We did the Great Society...the war on poverty... poverty won! I've been there and actually experienced this farce. I've lived in a neighborhood of Section Eight housing. I've seen the damage that is done to people's souls by spending a lifetime living on the dole. I've seen the carnage wrought on cities like Plainfield, Newark, Camden, Hillside.. Detroit, Cleveland.. go anywhere where the liberal welfare state was the strongest, the bluest of the blue districts and what you see is a tragedy. A travesty paid for with $16 Trillion of liberal compassion. These are the results of fifty years of the “good” intentions of the left:
8=======================================================================================================
The inescapable truth is that when you look at the record of the last fifty years worth of what the Democrats call compassion, it is difficult to see any silver lining in these dark clouds. I would posit to you for your reasoned consideration that the way we have dealt with poverty in America has been an unmitigated disaster and we should fix it before we lose yet another generation of Americans to illegitimacy, drugs, crime and dependency. Not just because to continue these policies is unaffordable, but primarily because it ruins lives. Intentions shmentions. Results do matter. The fact that the policies of the left have perpetuated a problem rather than solved it is the only factor worth evaluating. Particularly considering that millions of lives are at stake. I think that fifty years of failure is enough evidence to say that progressive prescriptions for America are killing the patient.
Think about their record. In the name of "fairness", Democrats created Social Security. It is bankrupt! Democrats created Medicare. It is bankrupt! Democrats created Medicaid. It , too, is a primary reason we have the high deficits that are leading to national insovency! We did the Great Society...the war on poverty... poverty won! I've been there and actually experienced this farce. I've lived in a neighborhood of Section Eight housing. I've seen the damage that is done to people's souls by spending a lifetime living on the dole. I've seen the carnage wrought on cities like Plainfield, Newark, Camden, Hillside.. Detroit, Cleveland.. go anywhere where the liberal welfare state was the strongest, the bluest of the blue districts and what you see is a tragedy. A travesty paid for with $16 Trillion of liberal compassion. These are the results of fifty years of the “good” intentions of the left:
This nation is broke, not because we don’t tax enough, but because we spend too much on programs that don’t work and are often nothing more than glorified ponzi schemes. We are now paying that ponzi piper. Every state where progressives have had the opportunity to live out their progressive fantasies is in dire financial straits as we'll see in more detail when we get to Reality. Just about all of the cities that the Democrats have controlled for generations are failing cities:
TEN POOREST CITIES
City, State, % of People Below the Poverty Level
1. Detroit , MI 32.5%
2. Buffalo , NY 29..9%
3. Cincinnati , OH 27.8%
4. Cleveland , OH 27.0%
5. Miami , FL 26.9%
5. St. Louis , MO 26.8%
7. El Paso , TX 26.4%
8. Milwaukee , WI 26.2%
9. Philadelphia , PA 25.1%
10. Newark , NJ 24.2%
U.S. Census Bureau, 2006 American Community Survey, August 2007
What do the top ten cities (over 250,000) with the highest poverty rate all have in common?
Detroit, MI (1st on the list) hasn't elected a Republican mayor since 1961.
Buffalo, NY (2nd) hasn't elected a Republican mayor since 1954.
Cincinnati, OH (3rd) hasn't elected a Republican mayor since 1984.
Cleveland, OH (4th) hasn't elected a Republican mayor since 1989.
Miami, FL (5th) has never had a Republican mayor.
St. Louis, MO (6th) hasn't elected a Republican mayor since 1949.
El Paso, TX (7th) has never had a Republican mayor.
Milwaukee, WI (8th) hasn't elected a Republican mayor since 1908.
Philadelphia, PA (9th) hasn't elected a Republican mayor since 1952.
Newark, NJ (10th) hasn't elected a Republican mayor since 1907.
Now you might say that somehow there are other factors involved (white flight for example or the decline of the auto industry due to mismanagement) and perhaps that is a generously nuanced way of looking at it. However, I would say that the fact that all of these cities have been in Democrat control for years and years, generations in fact, and that none of them have managed to ever figure out how to end the rampant poverty that plagues their cities and revitalize them into progressive utopias is pretty telling about the efficacy of their beliefs. Despite how much they say they “care”, things are getting worse for their citizens and not better. On the other hand, New York City was sliding into the abyss until Rudy Giuliani came and fixed it with common sense conservative ideas about welfare reform, tax cuts and broken windows policing. Now, it is one of the safest and best cities once again. Good policies and philosophies do make a difference.
9=======================================================================================================
In my own life, there has never been a greater example of how Democrats and liberals destroyed and continue to impoverish a once great city than Plainfield, New Jersey. Back in the day, Plainfield was one of the wealthiest cities in New Jersey. It boasts some of the biggest mansions I have ever seen and it was a rocking place to be in it's time. Then, in the Sixties, there was a race riot. After that, most of the white families moved out of the city and it started to go downhill.
I grew up just a few miles away from Plainfield and, when a few years ago my parents fell ill and I needed to move close by, I thought I'd go and check it out again to see if it might be a place to live. Let me tell you something, Plainfield has some of the nicest old Victorian houses I’ve ever seen. Not only in the “rich” sections either, but all over the city. Not only that, but Plainfield is in one of the best locations in all of NJ. It is right on the train line to New York City and it is smack dab in the middle of many of the wealthiest parts of the state. It should be undergoing a revitalization and being re-gentrified and restored to its former glory. It's should be having a full fledged renaissance!
But, sadly, this is not going to happen any time soon. Why? Because taxes and crime are both too high. No one with any cash in their pockets and brains in their head is going to come to a city where property taxes are through the roof to pay for the massive spending and corruption of the Democrat machine that runs the place. They certainly aren’t going to pay for that and then not feel safe.
Well, that should be easy to fix right? Cut spending on the bloated bureaucracy and the incredible amount of waste, fraud and abuse. Stop the cycle of doling out millions to poor women to have one illegitimate child after another and then millions more to clean up the inevitable results of those ill advised and broken policies. Then, use the savings to cut property taxes and hire more police. As the city gets safer, a more prosperous and industrious class of people will come to live there and revitalize the beautiful Victorian houses all over town. They will pay their taxes, obey the law and spend their money locally causing new businesses to come in to cater to them and then the tax base will grow. Problem solved! You'd think it would be that easy, eh? Well, maybe not that simple. But, at least doable, right?
Wrong! The pols in Plainfield know that they can’t go on a huge anti-crime program ala Guiliani. The African-Americans in town hate the cops and would exact their revenge at the next election if law enforcement started taking away too many of their sons to the county lockup. They'd also get mighty angry come election time if their checks suddenly stopped coming with each new baby. Besides, the unions would have a cow if they started laying off city workers and the inexhaustible wells of free pocket cash from their "friends" would dry up if they cracked down on corruption. Heck, the nitty gritty reality of local politics is that they don't need to change anything to keep getting elected in perpetuity. I mean, hell will freeze over before the Republicans will ever take over the mayoralty or the town council, right? So, nothing is going to be done. The Democrats in Plainfield are happy to keep offering its citizens the same old bargain. Votes for checks! Poverty will continue, crime and drug dependency will continue, the ruination of lives will continue and the city and all of those gorgeous homes will fall further into disrepair and ruin, but the politicians and their favored constituencies will be fat and happy. Soon, Plainfield will join Detroit and Camden as bombed out wastelands of liberal compassion.
10======================================================================================================
And then there are the schools...
There is probably no single factor more important in the elimination of poverty than the education of our children. Preparing them for the future with a good skill, a good education and excellent work habits are the greatest thing we can do to promote equal opportunity and success. This is particularly true in our modern Twenty First century information economy. In an era when all the good paying blue collar jobs have left America for China and other low wage countries, it is more than important. It is critical!
Yet, when it comes to educating our kids we are falling farther and farther behind the rest of the world:
Thirty-two percent of U.S. students in the class of 2011 were proficient in mathematics when they were in 8th grade, according to the official U. S. report card on student achievement. Coincidentally, that places the United States in 32nd place among the 65 nations of the world that participated in PISA, the math test administered by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)...
That 32 percent proficiency rate compares to a 50 percent or better proficiency rate in Korea, Finland, Switzerland, Japan, Canada and the Netherlands. In Shanghai, the proficiency rate is no less than 75 percent. Many other nations also had math proficiency rates well above that of the United States, including Germany (45 percent), Australia (44 percent), and France (39 percent)...
The U.S. proficiency rate in reading, at 31 percent, compares reasonably well to those of most European countries other than Finland. The U.S. takes 17th place among the nations of the world, and only the top 10 countries on PISA outperform the United States by a statistically significant amount. In Korea, 47 percent of the students are proficient in reading. Other countries that outrank the United States include Finland (46 percent), Singapore and New Zealand (42 percent), Japan and Canada (41 percent), Australia (38 percent), and Belgium (37 percent)...
The percentage proficient in the United States varies considerably across students from different racial and ethnic backgrounds. While 42 percent of white students were identified as proficient in math, only 11 percent of African American students, 15 percent of Hispanic students, and 16 percent of Native Americans were so identified. Fifty percent of students with an ethnic background from Asia and the Pacific Islands, however, were proficient in math, placing them at a level comparable to students in Belgium, Canada, and Japan, if lower than that of students in Korea and Taiwan.
In reading, 40 percent of white students and 41 percent of those from Asia and the Pacific Islands were identified as proficient. Only 13 percent of African American students, 5 percent of Hispanic students, and 18 percent of Native American students were so identified.
Other than Switzerland, the United States spends more on educating its kids than any other country in the world and this is the best we can do? Mid-pack? How is it that we have more than doubled spending on schools in constant dollars, and our schools still suck so badly? It is time to face the truth that our "system" of education does not work very well or very efficiently. It is failing too many of our people:
TEN POOREST CITIES
City, State, % of People Below the Poverty Level
1. Detroit , MI 32.5%
2. Buffalo , NY 29..9%
3. Cincinnati , OH 27.8%
4. Cleveland , OH 27.0%
5. Miami , FL 26.9%
5. St. Louis , MO 26.8%
7. El Paso , TX 26.4%
8. Milwaukee , WI 26.2%
9. Philadelphia , PA 25.1%
10. Newark , NJ 24.2%
U.S. Census Bureau, 2006 American Community Survey, August 2007
What do the top ten cities (over 250,000) with the highest poverty rate all have in common?
Detroit, MI (1st on the list) hasn't elected a Republican mayor since 1961.
Buffalo, NY (2nd) hasn't elected a Republican mayor since 1954.
Cincinnati, OH (3rd) hasn't elected a Republican mayor since 1984.
Cleveland, OH (4th) hasn't elected a Republican mayor since 1989.
Miami, FL (5th) has never had a Republican mayor.
St. Louis, MO (6th) hasn't elected a Republican mayor since 1949.
El Paso, TX (7th) has never had a Republican mayor.
Milwaukee, WI (8th) hasn't elected a Republican mayor since 1908.
Philadelphia, PA (9th) hasn't elected a Republican mayor since 1952.
Newark, NJ (10th) hasn't elected a Republican mayor since 1907.
Now you might say that somehow there are other factors involved (white flight for example or the decline of the auto industry due to mismanagement) and perhaps that is a generously nuanced way of looking at it. However, I would say that the fact that all of these cities have been in Democrat control for years and years, generations in fact, and that none of them have managed to ever figure out how to end the rampant poverty that plagues their cities and revitalize them into progressive utopias is pretty telling about the efficacy of their beliefs. Despite how much they say they “care”, things are getting worse for their citizens and not better. On the other hand, New York City was sliding into the abyss until Rudy Giuliani came and fixed it with common sense conservative ideas about welfare reform, tax cuts and broken windows policing. Now, it is one of the safest and best cities once again. Good policies and philosophies do make a difference.
9=======================================================================================================
In my own life, there has never been a greater example of how Democrats and liberals destroyed and continue to impoverish a once great city than Plainfield, New Jersey. Back in the day, Plainfield was one of the wealthiest cities in New Jersey. It boasts some of the biggest mansions I have ever seen and it was a rocking place to be in it's time. Then, in the Sixties, there was a race riot. After that, most of the white families moved out of the city and it started to go downhill.
I grew up just a few miles away from Plainfield and, when a few years ago my parents fell ill and I needed to move close by, I thought I'd go and check it out again to see if it might be a place to live. Let me tell you something, Plainfield has some of the nicest old Victorian houses I’ve ever seen. Not only in the “rich” sections either, but all over the city. Not only that, but Plainfield is in one of the best locations in all of NJ. It is right on the train line to New York City and it is smack dab in the middle of many of the wealthiest parts of the state. It should be undergoing a revitalization and being re-gentrified and restored to its former glory. It's should be having a full fledged renaissance!
But, sadly, this is not going to happen any time soon. Why? Because taxes and crime are both too high. No one with any cash in their pockets and brains in their head is going to come to a city where property taxes are through the roof to pay for the massive spending and corruption of the Democrat machine that runs the place. They certainly aren’t going to pay for that and then not feel safe.
Well, that should be easy to fix right? Cut spending on the bloated bureaucracy and the incredible amount of waste, fraud and abuse. Stop the cycle of doling out millions to poor women to have one illegitimate child after another and then millions more to clean up the inevitable results of those ill advised and broken policies. Then, use the savings to cut property taxes and hire more police. As the city gets safer, a more prosperous and industrious class of people will come to live there and revitalize the beautiful Victorian houses all over town. They will pay their taxes, obey the law and spend their money locally causing new businesses to come in to cater to them and then the tax base will grow. Problem solved! You'd think it would be that easy, eh? Well, maybe not that simple. But, at least doable, right?
Wrong! The pols in Plainfield know that they can’t go on a huge anti-crime program ala Guiliani. The African-Americans in town hate the cops and would exact their revenge at the next election if law enforcement started taking away too many of their sons to the county lockup. They'd also get mighty angry come election time if their checks suddenly stopped coming with each new baby. Besides, the unions would have a cow if they started laying off city workers and the inexhaustible wells of free pocket cash from their "friends" would dry up if they cracked down on corruption. Heck, the nitty gritty reality of local politics is that they don't need to change anything to keep getting elected in perpetuity. I mean, hell will freeze over before the Republicans will ever take over the mayoralty or the town council, right? So, nothing is going to be done. The Democrats in Plainfield are happy to keep offering its citizens the same old bargain. Votes for checks! Poverty will continue, crime and drug dependency will continue, the ruination of lives will continue and the city and all of those gorgeous homes will fall further into disrepair and ruin, but the politicians and their favored constituencies will be fat and happy. Soon, Plainfield will join Detroit and Camden as bombed out wastelands of liberal compassion.
10======================================================================================================
And then there are the schools...
There is probably no single factor more important in the elimination of poverty than the education of our children. Preparing them for the future with a good skill, a good education and excellent work habits are the greatest thing we can do to promote equal opportunity and success. This is particularly true in our modern Twenty First century information economy. In an era when all the good paying blue collar jobs have left America for China and other low wage countries, it is more than important. It is critical!
Yet, when it comes to educating our kids we are falling farther and farther behind the rest of the world:
Thirty-two percent of U.S. students in the class of 2011 were proficient in mathematics when they were in 8th grade, according to the official U. S. report card on student achievement. Coincidentally, that places the United States in 32nd place among the 65 nations of the world that participated in PISA, the math test administered by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)...
That 32 percent proficiency rate compares to a 50 percent or better proficiency rate in Korea, Finland, Switzerland, Japan, Canada and the Netherlands. In Shanghai, the proficiency rate is no less than 75 percent. Many other nations also had math proficiency rates well above that of the United States, including Germany (45 percent), Australia (44 percent), and France (39 percent)...
The U.S. proficiency rate in reading, at 31 percent, compares reasonably well to those of most European countries other than Finland. The U.S. takes 17th place among the nations of the world, and only the top 10 countries on PISA outperform the United States by a statistically significant amount. In Korea, 47 percent of the students are proficient in reading. Other countries that outrank the United States include Finland (46 percent), Singapore and New Zealand (42 percent), Japan and Canada (41 percent), Australia (38 percent), and Belgium (37 percent)...
The percentage proficient in the United States varies considerably across students from different racial and ethnic backgrounds. While 42 percent of white students were identified as proficient in math, only 11 percent of African American students, 15 percent of Hispanic students, and 16 percent of Native Americans were so identified. Fifty percent of students with an ethnic background from Asia and the Pacific Islands, however, were proficient in math, placing them at a level comparable to students in Belgium, Canada, and Japan, if lower than that of students in Korea and Taiwan.
In reading, 40 percent of white students and 41 percent of those from Asia and the Pacific Islands were identified as proficient. Only 13 percent of African American students, 5 percent of Hispanic students, and 18 percent of Native American students were so identified.
Other than Switzerland, the United States spends more on educating its kids than any other country in the world and this is the best we can do? Mid-pack? How is it that we have more than doubled spending on schools in constant dollars, and our schools still suck so badly? It is time to face the truth that our "system" of education does not work very well or very efficiently. It is failing too many of our people:
11======================================================================================================
The red pill reality is that our public schools are a national disgrace. Tragically, it is even worse in our inner cities where a good education is needed the most:
The red pill reality is that our public schools are a national disgrace. Tragically, it is even worse in our inner cities where a good education is needed the most:
Now that is truly pathetic. It's incredibly sad, too, when you think about how, despite all of that money spent, our public schools have failed those students most in need of a good education in order to succeed in life.
The problem with the public schools system is exactly that it is a "system". It is a construct designed at the beginning of the 20th century for a reality that no longer exists. But, there is a lot of money being spent on this "system". Hundreds of billions, in fact. Between the politicians and their clients, the teacher's unions and other unionized government bureaucrats there is a massive coalition of power against any change in the status quo except that more money be spent. For how many years have we heard politicians and union bosses decry the meager pittance they claim they are being given to educate our kids? Yet, we have tripled education spending in inflation adjusted dollars and we have nothing to show for it:
The problem with the public schools system is exactly that it is a "system". It is a construct designed at the beginning of the 20th century for a reality that no longer exists. But, there is a lot of money being spent on this "system". Hundreds of billions, in fact. Between the politicians and their clients, the teacher's unions and other unionized government bureaucrats there is a massive coalition of power against any change in the status quo except that more money be spent. For how many years have we heard politicians and union bosses decry the meager pittance they claim they are being given to educate our kids? Yet, we have tripled education spending in inflation adjusted dollars and we have nothing to show for it:
12=======================================================================================================
Here is a closer look at the correlation between spending and performance:
Here is a closer look at the correlation between spending and performance:
Well, I am wrong. We do have something to show for it. Not higher test scores perhaps, but whole lot more employees working for the system. Yay! So, now we have far more people involved in producing horrible test scores and the mal-education of our youth. Even with all of those extra employees, they are doing such a horrible job that they are forced to cheat:
Can you believe that? An entire school system in one of the nation's largest cities got busted cheating because they needed to pad their test scores to cover up the lousy job they've been doing. How many other school systems are doing the same thing, but haven't been caught yet? No one knows, but if this doesn't leave a bad taste in your mouth, I don't know what will.
Look, let's face it. The public schools are a monopoly. They are top down bureaucratically centered organizations that are resistant to change and innovation. They are like the Big 3 automakers were before the arrival of Toyota, Honda and Nissan. They are putting out the educational equivalent of Pintos, Vegas and K-Cars. Try to imagine what the world would be like today if AT&T still had a monopoly on the phone system. We'd still be using just three styles of phones and paying an obscene amount of money for long distance. It would suck! About as badly as our current public school systems suck today:
Look, let's face it. The public schools are a monopoly. They are top down bureaucratically centered organizations that are resistant to change and innovation. They are like the Big 3 automakers were before the arrival of Toyota, Honda and Nissan. They are putting out the educational equivalent of Pintos, Vegas and K-Cars. Try to imagine what the world would be like today if AT&T still had a monopoly on the phone system. We'd still be using just three styles of phones and paying an obscene amount of money for long distance. It would suck! About as badly as our current public school systems suck today:
Looks like charter schools and vouchers might be the answer, eh? Maybe we could tie the money to the child and allow the parents to decide where that child will go to school. Maybe that will create some competition and a race to the top as more and more schools innovate new educational techniques in order to compete for the most students. I don't think that there is anything more compelling about the need to break up the education monopoly in America than watching a movie like Waiting For Superman and seeing kids crying because they don't get to go to the charter, but remain stuck in their failing public school. Considering all of the hundreds of billions of dollars we spend on educating these kids, this is a scene that should never happen in our country.
13======================================================================================================
Yet, as you have seen in the Stossel clip, the unions and the bureaucracy want nothing to do with Charter schools. Let's face it, as union bosses, their priority isn't to educate the kids:
13======================================================================================================
Yet, as you have seen in the Stossel clip, the unions and the bureaucracy want nothing to do with Charter schools. Let's face it, as union bosses, their priority isn't to educate the kids:
It's about power! It's about money! It's about controlling politicians so they won't make waves and continue to keep the money stream flowing into their pockets. Sure, we are about the kids, just not enough to agree to anything that would improve their education: like firing bad teachers and promoting merit pay. Therefore, the unions hate anything that smacks of competition or change. They've got a great racket going. Between the unions and the politicians they buy with their dues, they've created a great little money machine:
That's why the number one enemy of the teacher's unions are effective governors that are willing to fight and reveal to the public how badly the system is getting hosed by union power. In the case of Scott Walker in Wisconsin, they threw a hissy fit of epic proportions in the state capital, forced bought and paid for politicians to flee to Illinois rather than cast a vote against them and spent millions on three losing recall elections that deeply divide the state.
They particularly hate politicians who have the gall to stand up to them and reveal the sick little game they play using the dues they get from teacher's salaries (paid for by the taxpayer) to buy power, influence and juicy contracts from greedy politicians:
They particularly hate politicians who have the gall to stand up to them and reveal the sick little game they play using the dues they get from teacher's salaries (paid for by the taxpayer) to buy power, influence and juicy contracts from greedy politicians:
14======================================================================================================
While the unions hate people like Chris Christie and Scott Walker, they are deathly afraid of the charter school movement. Oh my God! Competition! Therefore, it must somehow be co-opted. That's what President Obama's Race to the Top program is all about. Don't be fooled by all the high sounding rhetoric about how this is the greatest thing to happen to charter schools since sliced bread. No. The Race to the Top program has one singular goal in mind: to nationalize public education in the United States. Come on, you didn't think that Barack Obama is going to stand up to his biggest allies and supporters in the teacher's unions did you? Of course not!
What this new Federal program does is nationalize the curriculum for those states that get involved. In exchange for some Federal cash, these States will give up control over their own standards and curricula to a bunch of bureaucrats in Washington. Once all of the power to control exactly what students will learn is safely in Washington, the unions will make sure that everything is to their liking and the Democrats get to control the whole shebang from Washington.
I mean, really, you didn't really believe that Barack Obama was brave enough to do something that the unions hate, did you? After all, the teacher's union owns the Democrat party. This isn't a bill designed to "fundamentally transform" the educational system towards charters and more choice for parents and students. It's only five billion dollars for crying out loud. It's a drop in the bucket in terms of money, but is huge in terms of the power that is being gobbled up by the Federal government in exchange.
The real truth is that Race To The Top is designed to destroy the charter movement by creating a nationalization of the rules. Things will become more rigid and set in concrete, not less. Whatever, freedom today's charter schools have in the way they run their schools will be gradually phased out. Once the Feds grab ahold of the curriculum, there will no longer even be 50 states competing to see who can make the best rules. There will be just one all powerful Department of Education. The unions win. The power hungry bureaucrats in Washington, who want to "plan" every child's education and the propaganda that they'll be forced to learn, will win too. The children of America? Of course, they lose. Big time!:
While the unions hate people like Chris Christie and Scott Walker, they are deathly afraid of the charter school movement. Oh my God! Competition! Therefore, it must somehow be co-opted. That's what President Obama's Race to the Top program is all about. Don't be fooled by all the high sounding rhetoric about how this is the greatest thing to happen to charter schools since sliced bread. No. The Race to the Top program has one singular goal in mind: to nationalize public education in the United States. Come on, you didn't think that Barack Obama is going to stand up to his biggest allies and supporters in the teacher's unions did you? Of course not!
What this new Federal program does is nationalize the curriculum for those states that get involved. In exchange for some Federal cash, these States will give up control over their own standards and curricula to a bunch of bureaucrats in Washington. Once all of the power to control exactly what students will learn is safely in Washington, the unions will make sure that everything is to their liking and the Democrats get to control the whole shebang from Washington.
I mean, really, you didn't really believe that Barack Obama was brave enough to do something that the unions hate, did you? After all, the teacher's union owns the Democrat party. This isn't a bill designed to "fundamentally transform" the educational system towards charters and more choice for parents and students. It's only five billion dollars for crying out loud. It's a drop in the bucket in terms of money, but is huge in terms of the power that is being gobbled up by the Federal government in exchange.
The real truth is that Race To The Top is designed to destroy the charter movement by creating a nationalization of the rules. Things will become more rigid and set in concrete, not less. Whatever, freedom today's charter schools have in the way they run their schools will be gradually phased out. Once the Feds grab ahold of the curriculum, there will no longer even be 50 states competing to see who can make the best rules. There will be just one all powerful Department of Education. The unions win. The power hungry bureaucrats in Washington, who want to "plan" every child's education and the propaganda that they'll be forced to learn, will win too. The children of America? Of course, they lose. Big time!:
Speaking of failure,which of course reminds me immediately of Detroit... What has been the result for its citizen of having Democrat mayors doing the bidding of the teacher's unions for the past fifty consecutive years?
15======================================================================================================
But, it is not just Detroit, or our inner cities. The rot in our educational system is everywhere. Yet, Democrats refuse to accept that our schools are a failure and must change. I mean, really... Half of the citizens in one our largest cities can't read? Are you freaking kidding me? But, people still caught up in the faux-reality of the Matrix are convinced that nothing is wrong with the public schools that a little more money won't fix. Besides, everyone knows that it really isn't the school's fault. It's the parents! And while some of this is undoubtedly true :
But, it is not just Detroit, or our inner cities. The rot in our educational system is everywhere. Yet, Democrats refuse to accept that our schools are a failure and must change. I mean, really... Half of the citizens in one our largest cities can't read? Are you freaking kidding me? But, people still caught up in the faux-reality of the Matrix are convinced that nothing is wrong with the public schools that a little more money won't fix. Besides, everyone knows that it really isn't the school's fault. It's the parents! And while some of this is undoubtedly true :
There is much more to it than that. When parents do decide to take responsibility for their children's education, the unions fight them tooth and nail. For example, according to the Wall Street Journal:
"at one elementary school, only 3% of the students perform at grade level English, and only 9% in Math. At the Columbus High School the graduation rate is an abysmal 40%, compared to a citywide average of 63%. These figures are from only two of 22 failing schools that need to be shut down. Yet, despite the horrific record, the NAACP and the United Federation of Teachers has filed a suit against the Department of Education to prohibit 17 charter schools from “opening, moving, or expanding in the Harlem area and to keep 22 failing public schools open.
This has many African-American parents aghast at the NAACP’s position and they chose to demonstrate to voice their displeasure:
"at one elementary school, only 3% of the students perform at grade level English, and only 9% in Math. At the Columbus High School the graduation rate is an abysmal 40%, compared to a citywide average of 63%. These figures are from only two of 22 failing schools that need to be shut down. Yet, despite the horrific record, the NAACP and the United Federation of Teachers has filed a suit against the Department of Education to prohibit 17 charter schools from “opening, moving, or expanding in the Harlem area and to keep 22 failing public schools open.
This has many African-American parents aghast at the NAACP’s position and they chose to demonstrate to voice their displeasure:
Is there any greater example that it's all about the power and that there is an attitude of F*** the students as far as the unions are concerned? As long as the money machine keeps on chugging along, Democrats and their teacher union allies are just fine with the system as it is. Of course, they don't send their own kids to public schools. Why, only an idiot would do that. Are you kidding me? Mayor of Chicago Rahm Emmanuel doesn't send his kids to the crappy public schools in his city. He sends them to the same private school President Obama sent his kids to when he was still living there. Emmanuel and Obama are no dummies. They know that the public schools suck. So, they would never allow their own precious kids to be sentenced to those black holes of learning. In fact, not even the striking teachers of Chicago send their kids to the schools they teach in. 39% choose to sent their kids to private schools. The very private schools, in fact, that their union bosses fight tooth and nail to prevent the students they teach from attending.
16======================================================================================================
Yet, while those in the Democrat party know how bad the public schools are and send their kids as far away as possible, when it came time to help some poor and deserving kids escape the worst public school system in the country, they couldn't find the money to do so. They spent a Trillion dollars on stimulus, but helping disadvantaged minority kids get an education? Nah, can't scrape up the cash:
16======================================================================================================
Yet, while those in the Democrat party know how bad the public schools are and send their kids as far away as possible, when it came time to help some poor and deserving kids escape the worst public school system in the country, they couldn't find the money to do so. They spent a Trillion dollars on stimulus, but helping disadvantaged minority kids get an education? Nah, can't scrape up the cash:
Twenty million bucks. That's all it would have taken. Yet, they were able to find some money to subsidize wealthy Americans for buying worthless Chevy Volts:
Now, anyone who is just a tad bit fair minded would be forced to come to the conclusion that Mayor Rahm and President Barry are both hypocritical SOB's for sending their kids to private schools while shafting poor kids in the nation's capital. But, someone a bit more cynical than that, someone like myself perhaps, might even see a more sinister motive.
16=======================================================================================================
As long as the youth of America are badly educated and ignorant, it is easier to prevent them from seeing how badly Democrats have been screwing them for the past fifty years. Deny them the red pill of knowledge and they'll never realize that they are stuck in the Matrix. They'll all stay in blue pill land. Because if they take that red pill...
Ok, that's a very cynical attitude to have and maybe it's not true. At least I hope it's not really true. However, whenever I see stories like this I wonder:
16=======================================================================================================
As long as the youth of America are badly educated and ignorant, it is easier to prevent them from seeing how badly Democrats have been screwing them for the past fifty years. Deny them the red pill of knowledge and they'll never realize that they are stuck in the Matrix. They'll all stay in blue pill land. Because if they take that red pill...
Ok, that's a very cynical attitude to have and maybe it's not true. At least I hope it's not really true. However, whenever I see stories like this I wonder:
Only 25% of kids are at or above proficient in their knowledge of civics? How the heck are we going to have a functioning democracy when our kids are civically illiterate? But, then as I said, maybe some people aren't interested in a functioning democracy. Maybe some people are counting on the ignorance of our youth so they'll buy the hopenchangey mumbo jumbo from an empty suit who never had a real job in his life:
Okay, maybe most Obama voters aren't this ignorant and I am sure you can find plenty of ignorant McCain voters too. The truth is that too many people just don't know what they don't know and so much of what they think they know just isn't so. Is this the fault of the American educational establishment? Absolutely! Is it some kind of conspiracy to make sure people stay in the Matrix and continue to be lulled by the sweet good intentions of Democrats rather than investigating further into the reality that those politicians have created? Maybe not, but sometimes I do wonder.
Regardless of whether you think that all of this ignorance is intentional or not, it certainly exists as the above video and The New York Times piece both show. Look past the failure of our public schools and you'll also see the failure of the Great Society entitlement programs to lift the poor out of poverty. $16 Trillion over almost fifty years and bupkus to show for it except for three generations of ruined lives. That is the very definition of failure.
It is hard to imagine that conservatives are the only ones in the United States to see this undeniable reality. To believe that all of the media and the entire Democrat party really can't see the big elephant named failure in the room seems kind of ludicrous on its face. The sad results of their policies have been going on way too long for anyone to believe that anymore. Don't get me wrong, they have done a masterful job of blame shifting to make it seem that continued poverty in America is the fault of the evil Republicans who refuse to spend enough for their programs to succeed. In fact, it is one of the greatest feats of spin in history. But, if Barack Obama is truly the "smartest man" ever to be President", then either he is the most naive man alive or he knows that the welfare state his party created has not done squat to help the communities he was trying to organize.
If the latter is the case, then why hasn't Obama used that brilliant mind of his to radically reform these programs? Why hasn't he used his experiences working among Chicago's poor to chart a new strategy to beat poverty? Well, that's simple, really. For the same reason the teacher's union boss says that kids aren't his top priority. Power.
17======================================================================================================
You see, the entitlement society that Barry and his Democrats invented and perfected is a better racket than the mafia. It is a self sustaining money machine and power generator of epic proportions for his party . It is the goose that is constantly laying fat golden eggs for Democrats and their leftist allies. How so? Well, do you remember Julia? That faceless girl the Obama campaign created to show how daddy government would always be there for the women of America? From cradle to grave, Uncle Sammy is always there to help Julia with her life. Julia is the public face of the progressive vision of their entitlement state philosophy and how its only purpose is to help you at every stage of your life.
I'd like to introduce you to the real Julia and show you how she is but a mere tool in the service of the Democrats money and power machine. Shall we begin?
We catch up to Julia at age sixteen. She is a bright girl, but is totally bored in the lousy public school she goes to. In fact, Julia spends most of her time in school and at home sexting on her cell phone looking for a cute guy to hook up with and, thus, doesn't study very much. Besides, she and all of her friends agree that school is just a waste of time. By eighteen, with bad grades and no marketable skills, Julia graduates from high school and gets the only job she can: working at the local convenience mart.
One day a handsome older man named Johnny walks in, smiles at Julia and suggests that she come over to his place after work for a little "party". Despite the Planned Parenthood office just across the street, Julia never bothered to get any free birth control. It is such a bother! In the heat of the moment, Johnny "forgets" to wear protection and Julia becomes pregnant. When she confronts Johnny with this fact later, he denies any responsiblity and suggests that it is her problem. However, Johnny does offer some sage advice. Go to the welfare office, he says. They'll take care of you.
The moment Julia walks into her local government building, she enters into the system. There, a social worker introduces her to the joys of free benefits. Having been coached by some of her friends, who are already in the "system", Julia tells the nice government employee that she believes her parents will "kill" her when they find out she is pregnant and she is afraid for her and the baby's safety and well being. Taking Julia at her word and without any further investigation and after scribbling on a form or two, the social worker hands Julia a Section 8 voucher for an apartment of her own. Come back in a few days, she says, and I'll have your Medicaid card, your S-CHIP card for the baby and an EBT card with both cash assistance and Food Stamp money.
Wow, thinks Julia. I don't even have to wake up early to go to work at the convenience store anymore. So, she quits her job, packs up her posessions and moves into her new apartment. A few months later, she goes to the local hospital and has a little baby boy named Zachary.
For the next few years, Julia is fully and completely supported by her neighbors' tax dollars. She smiles as she watches them come home from a hard days work and thinks what suckers they are. Here she is living in the same neighborhood as they are and all she had to do was get pregnant. Because Barack Obama ended the work requirement for welfare and the economy can't dig itself out of the ditch, Julia remains on the dole for many years. Finally, one day her social worker tells her that her benefits might soon be running out. So, Julia does what any sensible girl in her situation would do. She hooks up and gets pregnant again. Problem solved!
Meanwhile, Zachary is now old enough to go to the same lousy public school that Julia went to. Like her, he is a bright kid bored out of his mind sitting in classes where incompetent teachers are still droning on and on to rooms full of bored, slack jawed youth because the unions made sure they had tenure and couldn't be fired. By sixteen, like the vast majority of his friends, Zach has had enough and drops out of school.
Without a father figure as a role model in the house, Zach has always looked up to the older boys in the neighborhood. So when one of them offers him a job as a drug "courier" making more money in one day than Julia used to make in a week at the convenience store, Zach leaps at the opportunity. With no education and no skills, Zach really has no other choice if he wants to make the "real" money. He doesn't want to be a "sucker" working over at the burger joint like some of the uncool dudes he knew at school.
Because he is still under eighteen, his drug dealing buddy knows that he can minimize his own personal risk of going to jail by having Zach "hold" the stash while other "couriers" do the sales. You see, Zachary is still a minor and has no criminal record yet. The law will go easy on him if he gets busted. This scheme works for a few months and Zach is delighted! He comes home every night to Julia's taxpayer funded apartment, uses his free EBT card to buy food at the local Mickey D's and even goes to the Doctor with his S-CHIP card when he gets sick. With all the basics taken care of by all of those working suckers, the money Zach is making allows him to buy lots of cool stuff. There's a big screen TV, a Playstation 3 and all of the latest in contemporary fashion for him to look cool and be da man. Life is great, eh?
But, as almost always happens, Zach's luck runs out. The cops have been watching his buddy and his gang for awhile. They've seen how the operation works and they swoop in to bag Zach and his compatriots. The cops make sure to arrest Zach hoping they can scare him into testifying against the gang leader. However, Zach is cool, and doesn't rat. But, because he was holding such a huge stash, the judge decides to send him to reform school.
At the local juvenile lockup, Zach meets up with a whole bunch of other guys his age who got busted. Being the bright kid he is, he realizes that he has the making of his own gang. Combining all of the knowledge that they have collectively accrued from their time on the "street", Zach's new gang is ready to make some money when they are released a few months later.
Owing to a massive drive-by hit during a huge gang war in his neighborhood, there is a power vaccuum and Zach and his boys swoop right in to take control. Now, Zach is a big man. He's still living with Julia (now on her fourth baby) and still raking in the free government goodies. Plus, he's making more money than he even knew existed. He's got seven girlfriends and he delights in making every single one of them a baby mommy. In his world, that shows what a potent and powerful man he is. Besides, since The Man is paying the tab, it's not like he's financially responsible for any of them.
After a year goes by, Zach gets into a shootout with another gang over a petty slight to a girlfriend. Zach is shot in the leg and cannot escape the scene before the cops show up. When they do, he shoots and kills one of the Officers. Killing a cop is frowned upon in his community, so the Judge gives Zach a twenty years to life sentence. Hopefully, because of the overcrowding of the jails, he'll be out by the time he's thirty. He'll make sure there are no cops or witnesses left alive next time. He's got a whole bunch of years to perfect his plan and recruit a new gang. In the meantime, all of his children will have been brought up the same way he was and go to the exact same schools. The cycle will continue on and on and on...
Some story, eh? So what does all this have to do with the Democrats and their money machine? Well, let's look at this from a different perspective. The horrible school Julia and Zach both go to is staffed by unionized government employees like janitors, food service workers and administration employees. The school is supplied with its food and other necessities by companies owned by "friends" of the Mayor. And, of course, the school is filled with unionized teachers and bureaucrats which is the reason it's so rotten in the first place.
When Julia gets pregnant and enters the "system", she goes to a local welfare office which is staffed by a huge unionized bureaucracy of social workers, clerks, mid and upper level management and lots of unionized support staff (janitors etc.). For each new "client" that this local office serves, the more money they get from the Federal government and the more unionized employees they can hire. Thus, they have an incentive to sign up as many "clients" as possible. The apartment building that Julia moves into with her Section 8 money is owned by The Habitat Company which is run by top Obama advisor Valerie Jarrett . When Julia goes to the local public hospital to have Zachary and get medical care, it too is staffed by tons of unionized employees from nurses, technicians, food worker, laundry and other support staff.
When Zach gets in trouble with the law, he is arrested by a unionized police force. Then he is "processed" into the court system by another huge bureaucracy of unionized government workers and support staff. When the judge sends him to reform school and then jail, he is greeted once again by unionized prison guards and unionized support staff. Of course, everyone that sends food and other supplies to the lockup are "friends" of the local county political boss.
Realize that this "racket" involves the flow of almost a Trillion dollars a year in funding. That's an awful lot of cash. If we just paid out that money directly to the "clients" of the system, we could eliminate poverty tomorrow. Therefore, the difference between poverty and no poverty is the amount of money all of the unionized people I just mentioned pay themselves to administer and deal with the consequences of the failure they have created. Because they are unions and know on which side their bread is buttered, all of the dues they collect from all of those union employees involved goes straight into the campaign coffers of the Democrat party. That money not only helps them get Democrats elected, but can be used to pay for the propaganda, shiny objects and other distractions these politicians need in order to convince the suckers to keep working to pay for this scam.
To get an idea of how profitable this money machine is for the unions and their allies, check out this chart:
Regardless of whether you think that all of this ignorance is intentional or not, it certainly exists as the above video and The New York Times piece both show. Look past the failure of our public schools and you'll also see the failure of the Great Society entitlement programs to lift the poor out of poverty. $16 Trillion over almost fifty years and bupkus to show for it except for three generations of ruined lives. That is the very definition of failure.
It is hard to imagine that conservatives are the only ones in the United States to see this undeniable reality. To believe that all of the media and the entire Democrat party really can't see the big elephant named failure in the room seems kind of ludicrous on its face. The sad results of their policies have been going on way too long for anyone to believe that anymore. Don't get me wrong, they have done a masterful job of blame shifting to make it seem that continued poverty in America is the fault of the evil Republicans who refuse to spend enough for their programs to succeed. In fact, it is one of the greatest feats of spin in history. But, if Barack Obama is truly the "smartest man" ever to be President", then either he is the most naive man alive or he knows that the welfare state his party created has not done squat to help the communities he was trying to organize.
If the latter is the case, then why hasn't Obama used that brilliant mind of his to radically reform these programs? Why hasn't he used his experiences working among Chicago's poor to chart a new strategy to beat poverty? Well, that's simple, really. For the same reason the teacher's union boss says that kids aren't his top priority. Power.
17======================================================================================================
You see, the entitlement society that Barry and his Democrats invented and perfected is a better racket than the mafia. It is a self sustaining money machine and power generator of epic proportions for his party . It is the goose that is constantly laying fat golden eggs for Democrats and their leftist allies. How so? Well, do you remember Julia? That faceless girl the Obama campaign created to show how daddy government would always be there for the women of America? From cradle to grave, Uncle Sammy is always there to help Julia with her life. Julia is the public face of the progressive vision of their entitlement state philosophy and how its only purpose is to help you at every stage of your life.
I'd like to introduce you to the real Julia and show you how she is but a mere tool in the service of the Democrats money and power machine. Shall we begin?
We catch up to Julia at age sixteen. She is a bright girl, but is totally bored in the lousy public school she goes to. In fact, Julia spends most of her time in school and at home sexting on her cell phone looking for a cute guy to hook up with and, thus, doesn't study very much. Besides, she and all of her friends agree that school is just a waste of time. By eighteen, with bad grades and no marketable skills, Julia graduates from high school and gets the only job she can: working at the local convenience mart.
One day a handsome older man named Johnny walks in, smiles at Julia and suggests that she come over to his place after work for a little "party". Despite the Planned Parenthood office just across the street, Julia never bothered to get any free birth control. It is such a bother! In the heat of the moment, Johnny "forgets" to wear protection and Julia becomes pregnant. When she confronts Johnny with this fact later, he denies any responsiblity and suggests that it is her problem. However, Johnny does offer some sage advice. Go to the welfare office, he says. They'll take care of you.
The moment Julia walks into her local government building, she enters into the system. There, a social worker introduces her to the joys of free benefits. Having been coached by some of her friends, who are already in the "system", Julia tells the nice government employee that she believes her parents will "kill" her when they find out she is pregnant and she is afraid for her and the baby's safety and well being. Taking Julia at her word and without any further investigation and after scribbling on a form or two, the social worker hands Julia a Section 8 voucher for an apartment of her own. Come back in a few days, she says, and I'll have your Medicaid card, your S-CHIP card for the baby and an EBT card with both cash assistance and Food Stamp money.
Wow, thinks Julia. I don't even have to wake up early to go to work at the convenience store anymore. So, she quits her job, packs up her posessions and moves into her new apartment. A few months later, she goes to the local hospital and has a little baby boy named Zachary.
For the next few years, Julia is fully and completely supported by her neighbors' tax dollars. She smiles as she watches them come home from a hard days work and thinks what suckers they are. Here she is living in the same neighborhood as they are and all she had to do was get pregnant. Because Barack Obama ended the work requirement for welfare and the economy can't dig itself out of the ditch, Julia remains on the dole for many years. Finally, one day her social worker tells her that her benefits might soon be running out. So, Julia does what any sensible girl in her situation would do. She hooks up and gets pregnant again. Problem solved!
Meanwhile, Zachary is now old enough to go to the same lousy public school that Julia went to. Like her, he is a bright kid bored out of his mind sitting in classes where incompetent teachers are still droning on and on to rooms full of bored, slack jawed youth because the unions made sure they had tenure and couldn't be fired. By sixteen, like the vast majority of his friends, Zach has had enough and drops out of school.
Without a father figure as a role model in the house, Zach has always looked up to the older boys in the neighborhood. So when one of them offers him a job as a drug "courier" making more money in one day than Julia used to make in a week at the convenience store, Zach leaps at the opportunity. With no education and no skills, Zach really has no other choice if he wants to make the "real" money. He doesn't want to be a "sucker" working over at the burger joint like some of the uncool dudes he knew at school.
Because he is still under eighteen, his drug dealing buddy knows that he can minimize his own personal risk of going to jail by having Zach "hold" the stash while other "couriers" do the sales. You see, Zachary is still a minor and has no criminal record yet. The law will go easy on him if he gets busted. This scheme works for a few months and Zach is delighted! He comes home every night to Julia's taxpayer funded apartment, uses his free EBT card to buy food at the local Mickey D's and even goes to the Doctor with his S-CHIP card when he gets sick. With all the basics taken care of by all of those working suckers, the money Zach is making allows him to buy lots of cool stuff. There's a big screen TV, a Playstation 3 and all of the latest in contemporary fashion for him to look cool and be da man. Life is great, eh?
But, as almost always happens, Zach's luck runs out. The cops have been watching his buddy and his gang for awhile. They've seen how the operation works and they swoop in to bag Zach and his compatriots. The cops make sure to arrest Zach hoping they can scare him into testifying against the gang leader. However, Zach is cool, and doesn't rat. But, because he was holding such a huge stash, the judge decides to send him to reform school.
At the local juvenile lockup, Zach meets up with a whole bunch of other guys his age who got busted. Being the bright kid he is, he realizes that he has the making of his own gang. Combining all of the knowledge that they have collectively accrued from their time on the "street", Zach's new gang is ready to make some money when they are released a few months later.
Owing to a massive drive-by hit during a huge gang war in his neighborhood, there is a power vaccuum and Zach and his boys swoop right in to take control. Now, Zach is a big man. He's still living with Julia (now on her fourth baby) and still raking in the free government goodies. Plus, he's making more money than he even knew existed. He's got seven girlfriends and he delights in making every single one of them a baby mommy. In his world, that shows what a potent and powerful man he is. Besides, since The Man is paying the tab, it's not like he's financially responsible for any of them.
After a year goes by, Zach gets into a shootout with another gang over a petty slight to a girlfriend. Zach is shot in the leg and cannot escape the scene before the cops show up. When they do, he shoots and kills one of the Officers. Killing a cop is frowned upon in his community, so the Judge gives Zach a twenty years to life sentence. Hopefully, because of the overcrowding of the jails, he'll be out by the time he's thirty. He'll make sure there are no cops or witnesses left alive next time. He's got a whole bunch of years to perfect his plan and recruit a new gang. In the meantime, all of his children will have been brought up the same way he was and go to the exact same schools. The cycle will continue on and on and on...
Some story, eh? So what does all this have to do with the Democrats and their money machine? Well, let's look at this from a different perspective. The horrible school Julia and Zach both go to is staffed by unionized government employees like janitors, food service workers and administration employees. The school is supplied with its food and other necessities by companies owned by "friends" of the Mayor. And, of course, the school is filled with unionized teachers and bureaucrats which is the reason it's so rotten in the first place.
When Julia gets pregnant and enters the "system", she goes to a local welfare office which is staffed by a huge unionized bureaucracy of social workers, clerks, mid and upper level management and lots of unionized support staff (janitors etc.). For each new "client" that this local office serves, the more money they get from the Federal government and the more unionized employees they can hire. Thus, they have an incentive to sign up as many "clients" as possible. The apartment building that Julia moves into with her Section 8 money is owned by The Habitat Company which is run by top Obama advisor Valerie Jarrett . When Julia goes to the local public hospital to have Zachary and get medical care, it too is staffed by tons of unionized employees from nurses, technicians, food worker, laundry and other support staff.
When Zach gets in trouble with the law, he is arrested by a unionized police force. Then he is "processed" into the court system by another huge bureaucracy of unionized government workers and support staff. When the judge sends him to reform school and then jail, he is greeted once again by unionized prison guards and unionized support staff. Of course, everyone that sends food and other supplies to the lockup are "friends" of the local county political boss.
Realize that this "racket" involves the flow of almost a Trillion dollars a year in funding. That's an awful lot of cash. If we just paid out that money directly to the "clients" of the system, we could eliminate poverty tomorrow. Therefore, the difference between poverty and no poverty is the amount of money all of the unionized people I just mentioned pay themselves to administer and deal with the consequences of the failure they have created. Because they are unions and know on which side their bread is buttered, all of the dues they collect from all of those union employees involved goes straight into the campaign coffers of the Democrat party. That money not only helps them get Democrats elected, but can be used to pay for the propaganda, shiny objects and other distractions these politicians need in order to convince the suckers to keep working to pay for this scam.
To get an idea of how profitable this money machine is for the unions and their allies, check out this chart:
In places like Detroit, Chicago and Camden where there has only been one party rule as long as anyone alive can remember, this collusion between unions and the politicians they finance leads to a level of corruption that would be awe inspiring in its genius were it not for how many lives it has ruined. Think about this, the unions donate to and help elect the very same politicians responsible for negotiating their labor contracts. The incredible deals that labor had won for itself at the expense of the taxpayer is mind boggling. The reason why so many blue states like Illinois, New York and California are going bankrupt, not to mention cities like Stockton and Detroit, is because of those cushy deals that this corrupt system creates.
19======================================================================================================
One would think that the politicians in places like California would get worried, right? The budget is completely out of control and the high taxes needed to fund the welfare racket is causing thousands of hard working people to leave the state. It is chaos! So, why are they still smiling then? It's because they understand the Curley Effect. When you understand this concept, you will see how diabolically clever the Democrat party really is.
Joseph Curley was a long time Mayor of Boston. He was expert as using the public fisc to handsomely reward all of his Irish constituents, thus guaranteeing their votes. As their population grew larger and larger in comparison to the WASP communities in Boston, so did their power grow. But, Curley was determined to get rid of those pesky WASPS so that he and his cronies could have the city all to themselves. By alienating the rich WASPS with class and ethinic warfare rhetoric and using every other means as his disposal to let them know they were no longer welcome in Boston, he created a mass exodus of the wealthy and other Republican types. At that point, there was no one in the city to oppose him and, as long as he wisely doled out the goodies, he would win election after election.
Now, let's take that same political strategy and apply it to California. The uber wealthy of the huge media and silicon valley elite can afford to pay taxes to live in one of the most beautiful states in the union. Being Hollywood types, they vote Democrat anyway. Same with the Silicon Valley folk. They are all "enlightened" (feeling gulity for their success) you see. The poor will keep voting for them as long as they promise the benefits. The only threat to their reelection comes from the very people who have been fleeing California in droves over the past decade: the hard working entreprneurial and success oriented people. You know, us Republican types. Thus, Jerry Brown waltzed to a huge victory in the last election and the Legislature has been solidly Democrat for a few decades despite the fact that they have driven the state bankrupt. Power and its perks have become locked in perpetuity. At least until the whole thing finally goes belly up like Detroit. But that's years away, right? So, who cares! Let's party hardy now! Anyone up for some high speed rail?
So, you see, from the point of view of winning elections, these huge welfare money machines guarantee power for the Democrat party. Nothing will be done by any Democrat politician to rock the boat that wins them elections. In Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick actually vetoed a bill that would ban the use of EBT cards to buy guns, porn, tattoos, jewelry and manicures. Can you believe that? Barack Obama will carry every single one of these failed blue States in the next election. It is his fervent hope that he can do for the rest of the country what Democrats have been so successful in doing in their "Blue Wall" of States. Votes are available for the buying. That's why he just waived the work requirement for welfare and has had his Agriculture Department encourage people to throw "Food Stamp Parties to recruit more recipients. No kidding, they are really doing that. Boatloads of union money is available for favors too. That's why he has granted States waivers from the penalties of low test scores for failing schools as mandated in The No Child Left Behind program. You just gotta know the Teacher's Unions loved that one.
Most importantly, that's why President Obama has been unwilling to make any proposal for the reform of Medicare and Social Security. You see, the problem for Democrats nationally is that while they are well on their way to ensuring that over half of all Americans are receiving assistance of one type or another from their Uncle Sammy, there is still enough of the old pioneer spirit and old fashioned work ethic left to deny them a majority. That's where Granny comes in. Every election year, rain or shine in good times and bad, the Democrats try to scare the bejeezus out of poor Granny and Gramps by telling them that the Republicans are going to cut their Medicare and Social Security unless they go out and vote for them. These two programs are worth hundreds of billions of dollars and are the Democrats biggest vote buying weapons. There is no way they are going to surrender anything that powerful for the sake of the country's economic survival. Credit downgrades be damned.
20=======================================================================================================
While all of this may sound like excellent political strategy (and it is!), how long can the poor be blinded to how utterly they are being screwed? Well, in the case of African-Americans and Latinos as long as Democrats and their leftist allies continue to buy votes with government redistributive progams and control an education establishment and a media that will feed them carefully parsed and historically revisionist left wing propaganda, it looks like they can keep them on the Democrat plantation forever. The Democrat what? You heard me. The Democrat Plantation. I told you that swallowing the red pill would be an eye opening experience. ;-)
Here is Congressman Allen West explaining a little bit how that works:
19======================================================================================================
One would think that the politicians in places like California would get worried, right? The budget is completely out of control and the high taxes needed to fund the welfare racket is causing thousands of hard working people to leave the state. It is chaos! So, why are they still smiling then? It's because they understand the Curley Effect. When you understand this concept, you will see how diabolically clever the Democrat party really is.
Joseph Curley was a long time Mayor of Boston. He was expert as using the public fisc to handsomely reward all of his Irish constituents, thus guaranteeing their votes. As their population grew larger and larger in comparison to the WASP communities in Boston, so did their power grow. But, Curley was determined to get rid of those pesky WASPS so that he and his cronies could have the city all to themselves. By alienating the rich WASPS with class and ethinic warfare rhetoric and using every other means as his disposal to let them know they were no longer welcome in Boston, he created a mass exodus of the wealthy and other Republican types. At that point, there was no one in the city to oppose him and, as long as he wisely doled out the goodies, he would win election after election.
Now, let's take that same political strategy and apply it to California. The uber wealthy of the huge media and silicon valley elite can afford to pay taxes to live in one of the most beautiful states in the union. Being Hollywood types, they vote Democrat anyway. Same with the Silicon Valley folk. They are all "enlightened" (feeling gulity for their success) you see. The poor will keep voting for them as long as they promise the benefits. The only threat to their reelection comes from the very people who have been fleeing California in droves over the past decade: the hard working entreprneurial and success oriented people. You know, us Republican types. Thus, Jerry Brown waltzed to a huge victory in the last election and the Legislature has been solidly Democrat for a few decades despite the fact that they have driven the state bankrupt. Power and its perks have become locked in perpetuity. At least until the whole thing finally goes belly up like Detroit. But that's years away, right? So, who cares! Let's party hardy now! Anyone up for some high speed rail?
So, you see, from the point of view of winning elections, these huge welfare money machines guarantee power for the Democrat party. Nothing will be done by any Democrat politician to rock the boat that wins them elections. In Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick actually vetoed a bill that would ban the use of EBT cards to buy guns, porn, tattoos, jewelry and manicures. Can you believe that? Barack Obama will carry every single one of these failed blue States in the next election. It is his fervent hope that he can do for the rest of the country what Democrats have been so successful in doing in their "Blue Wall" of States. Votes are available for the buying. That's why he just waived the work requirement for welfare and has had his Agriculture Department encourage people to throw "Food Stamp Parties to recruit more recipients. No kidding, they are really doing that. Boatloads of union money is available for favors too. That's why he has granted States waivers from the penalties of low test scores for failing schools as mandated in The No Child Left Behind program. You just gotta know the Teacher's Unions loved that one.
Most importantly, that's why President Obama has been unwilling to make any proposal for the reform of Medicare and Social Security. You see, the problem for Democrats nationally is that while they are well on their way to ensuring that over half of all Americans are receiving assistance of one type or another from their Uncle Sammy, there is still enough of the old pioneer spirit and old fashioned work ethic left to deny them a majority. That's where Granny comes in. Every election year, rain or shine in good times and bad, the Democrats try to scare the bejeezus out of poor Granny and Gramps by telling them that the Republicans are going to cut their Medicare and Social Security unless they go out and vote for them. These two programs are worth hundreds of billions of dollars and are the Democrats biggest vote buying weapons. There is no way they are going to surrender anything that powerful for the sake of the country's economic survival. Credit downgrades be damned.
20=======================================================================================================
While all of this may sound like excellent political strategy (and it is!), how long can the poor be blinded to how utterly they are being screwed? Well, in the case of African-Americans and Latinos as long as Democrats and their leftist allies continue to buy votes with government redistributive progams and control an education establishment and a media that will feed them carefully parsed and historically revisionist left wing propaganda, it looks like they can keep them on the Democrat plantation forever. The Democrat what? You heard me. The Democrat Plantation. I told you that swallowing the red pill would be an eye opening experience. ;-)
Here is Congressman Allen West explaining a little bit how that works:
How the Democrat party has somehow managed to place African-Americans back into servitude, this time to the state, is a tragedy. Look, let's face it. Instead of using blacks to work in the fields, the Democrats offer them a life of comfortable subsistence in order to buy their votes. In both cases, the end result is the denial of true liberty. The narcotic of dependence and victimology is not fertile ground for those who wish to pursue their God given right to reach the fullest of their potential. When you throw in bad schools on top of it, what you get are ignorant, mal-educated people with no hope and no future of being anything more than wards of their masters and sugar daddies in Washington.
But the buying of votes with welfare programs is not the most insidious thing about what the Democrat party is doing to black America. That is the use of their own people as the overseers and promoters of the plantation. The lure of the big bucks attracts greedy politicians and race hustlers who feed on this lucrative cash cow. Their job is to hand out the goodies and always complain about how it is never enough. The spin they use is that their constituents are victims of a white society that oppresses them and therefore is always owed more and more money to compensate for past, present and future injustices. The same is true in the Latino community where Democrats have aligned themselves with race hustlers like La Raza. Think about it. When the Congressional Black Caucus and the NAACP ally themselves with teacher's unions to promote the status quo in horribly failing inner city schools, whose interests do you think they are representing? Certainly, it isn't the well being of their constituents.
The truth is that these politicians are in it for the money and the power. Go look into how two long serving and powerful members of Congress, Maxine Waters and Charlie Rangel, have enriched themselves and their friends on the backs of the people they claim to represent if you want to see how this works. This is why black Republican Congressman JC Watts coined the term "poverty pimps" to describe them. Harsh it may be, but that is exactly what they are. These politicians have sold their soul to the Democrat Plantation. In exchange for cash and the perks of power, they have allowed themselves and their communites to have their votes bought in exchange for the narcotic of dependency.
These corrupt "community" leaders have purposely enabled an entire culture that has sprung up to support every aspect of the servitude to the state. Trying to pursue your own happiness to become successful is derided as "acting white". Kids who try to be successful in school and speak proper English are ridiculed as Oreos: black on the outside and white on the inside. Everyone is told that the game is rigged and they have no chance and it is all the fault of the oppression of "The Man". The message these so called "leaders" are teaching young poor kids is not to integrate into the broader society or engage in the white capitalist system. In other words, to doom themselves to failure and a lifetime of dependency. No. It is better to take the free Obama bucks. Work is for suckers:
But the buying of votes with welfare programs is not the most insidious thing about what the Democrat party is doing to black America. That is the use of their own people as the overseers and promoters of the plantation. The lure of the big bucks attracts greedy politicians and race hustlers who feed on this lucrative cash cow. Their job is to hand out the goodies and always complain about how it is never enough. The spin they use is that their constituents are victims of a white society that oppresses them and therefore is always owed more and more money to compensate for past, present and future injustices. The same is true in the Latino community where Democrats have aligned themselves with race hustlers like La Raza. Think about it. When the Congressional Black Caucus and the NAACP ally themselves with teacher's unions to promote the status quo in horribly failing inner city schools, whose interests do you think they are representing? Certainly, it isn't the well being of their constituents.
The truth is that these politicians are in it for the money and the power. Go look into how two long serving and powerful members of Congress, Maxine Waters and Charlie Rangel, have enriched themselves and their friends on the backs of the people they claim to represent if you want to see how this works. This is why black Republican Congressman JC Watts coined the term "poverty pimps" to describe them. Harsh it may be, but that is exactly what they are. These politicians have sold their soul to the Democrat Plantation. In exchange for cash and the perks of power, they have allowed themselves and their communites to have their votes bought in exchange for the narcotic of dependency.
These corrupt "community" leaders have purposely enabled an entire culture that has sprung up to support every aspect of the servitude to the state. Trying to pursue your own happiness to become successful is derided as "acting white". Kids who try to be successful in school and speak proper English are ridiculed as Oreos: black on the outside and white on the inside. Everyone is told that the game is rigged and they have no chance and it is all the fault of the oppression of "The Man". The message these so called "leaders" are teaching young poor kids is not to integrate into the broader society or engage in the white capitalist system. In other words, to doom themselves to failure and a lifetime of dependency. No. It is better to take the free Obama bucks. Work is for suckers:
21======================================================================================================
When anyone in the black community dares to question what is happening to their society on the Democrat plantion they are condemned immediately. Look at what happened to Bill Cosby for crying out loud. This man, one of the most loved and respected Americans of his day, was villified for trying to share a little bit of truth and common sense to his brethren. For his trouble, he was mercilessly hounded and silenced. No one is allowed to speak against the Democrat Plantation. That goes double for African-Americans who dare to support Republicans.
You'd have thought that it would be a good thing to have a black man nominated to the Supreme Court, but Clarence Thomas was roundly condemned as an Uncle Tom. First black Secretary of State? First female black Secretary of State? Sellouts and Oreos. And why is this? Because if the Democrat party ever loses their complete domination of the African American vote, they will never win another national election. Therefore, the Matrix machine goes into full attack mode against anyone who questions the masters of the plantation and the local community leaders create a culture that shuns anyone who dares question the paradigm.
Columnist Ebben Raves expresses it this way:
Much has been written about the Democrat plantation. On this Democrat plantation, it is said that today's American blacks are slaves to the Democratic Party, much as their ancestors were slaves to their antebellum plantation masters. Then, as now, they were given scraps compared to their masters. Then, as now, running away or any disobedience by an individual was severely punished.
Talk to any black conservative and they will tell you the kind of abuse they are constantly subjected to by those whose interest it is to promote the status quo and the Democrats hold on power. If you are an uppity conservative black Presidential candidate like Herman Cain, they will ruin you any way they can rather than let you be a role model for other blacks. Runaway Slaves will not be tolerated:
When anyone in the black community dares to question what is happening to their society on the Democrat plantion they are condemned immediately. Look at what happened to Bill Cosby for crying out loud. This man, one of the most loved and respected Americans of his day, was villified for trying to share a little bit of truth and common sense to his brethren. For his trouble, he was mercilessly hounded and silenced. No one is allowed to speak against the Democrat Plantation. That goes double for African-Americans who dare to support Republicans.
You'd have thought that it would be a good thing to have a black man nominated to the Supreme Court, but Clarence Thomas was roundly condemned as an Uncle Tom. First black Secretary of State? First female black Secretary of State? Sellouts and Oreos. And why is this? Because if the Democrat party ever loses their complete domination of the African American vote, they will never win another national election. Therefore, the Matrix machine goes into full attack mode against anyone who questions the masters of the plantation and the local community leaders create a culture that shuns anyone who dares question the paradigm.
Columnist Ebben Raves expresses it this way:
Much has been written about the Democrat plantation. On this Democrat plantation, it is said that today's American blacks are slaves to the Democratic Party, much as their ancestors were slaves to their antebellum plantation masters. Then, as now, they were given scraps compared to their masters. Then, as now, running away or any disobedience by an individual was severely punished.
Talk to any black conservative and they will tell you the kind of abuse they are constantly subjected to by those whose interest it is to promote the status quo and the Democrats hold on power. If you are an uppity conservative black Presidential candidate like Herman Cain, they will ruin you any way they can rather than let you be a role model for other blacks. Runaway Slaves will not be tolerated:
22======================================================================================================
When you think about it, how the party of slavery, Jim Crow and the Ku Klux Klan managed to convince 90+% of the descendents of former slaves to vote against the party of Abraham Lincoln is pretty ingenious. Reflect on this as well, Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia served as either Senate Majority leader, Senate Minority leader or Democrat whip for the Democrat party from 1971-1987. He was the kind of man the Democrats in the Senate thought best represented them and their party. He must have been a great guy, eh? A great friend to the black community? Think again:
When you think about it, how the party of slavery, Jim Crow and the Ku Klux Klan managed to convince 90+% of the descendents of former slaves to vote against the party of Abraham Lincoln is pretty ingenious. Reflect on this as well, Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia served as either Senate Majority leader, Senate Minority leader or Democrat whip for the Democrat party from 1971-1987. He was the kind of man the Democrats in the Senate thought best represented them and their party. He must have been a great guy, eh? A great friend to the black community? Think again:
Democrats had no problem with standing behind Robert Byrd when he was alive because he was a masterful pork barrel politician. After all, the name of the game for Democrats is spending and there were none better at it than the Grand Cyclops of the KKK Robert "sheets" Byrd. But, supporting a full fledged racist for all of those years isn't one of their better moments, so when Byrd went down to meet Satan, they went into full damage control. Nobody rewrites history better than Democrats and none of them are better at it than old Slick Willie himself. Hear how he whitewashes this bloody stain on his party:
Ah well, Grand Kleagel? Cyclops? Heck, that was nothing. It was just what that poor country boy had to do to get elected. Nobody's perfect. Can you imagine the gall it takes to spin a lie like that? Oh, yeah. It's Bill Clinton. Never mind. But, what is the most telling thing about how totally and completely the Democrat party wields power over black Americans is to watch President Obama praise this lifelong racist. Here was a man who ran his local KKK, for God's sake. Yet, in order to whitewash (pun intended) the shameful truth about his party, Obama joins in heaping praise on that hate filled cretin. Watch the first minute of this only. Any more and it will make you want to retch:
What is the explanation as to why the first African-American President is willing to wax poetic in a glowing eulogy for a man who fillibustered for fourteen hours against the 1964 Civil Rights act? The answer can only be that party trumps race. Only by attempting a little bit of historical revisionism can Barack Obama hide the essential history of the Democrat party as being the party of slavery, segregation and the Democrat plantation known as the welfare state.
23=======================================================================================================
Since the African-American population started voting en masse for the Democrats fifty years ago, life for the poorest amongst them has not improved one iota. In fact, I would make the case that three generations of dependency have made things worse. And it's not like any of this is going to end well. It would be nice if we could say that at least the $16 Trillion we have spent has made the lives of the poor more livable or fulfilling. Or that the recipients of the aid of the working men and women in the United States are grateful for the hand up or even the hand out. But, the truth is just the opposite.
23=======================================================================================================
Since the African-American population started voting en masse for the Democrats fifty years ago, life for the poorest amongst them has not improved one iota. In fact, I would make the case that three generations of dependency have made things worse. And it's not like any of this is going to end well. It would be nice if we could say that at least the $16 Trillion we have spent has made the lives of the poor more livable or fulfilling. Or that the recipients of the aid of the working men and women in the United States are grateful for the hand up or even the hand out. But, the truth is just the opposite.
The real crime of the welfare state is what it does to the culture of those who receive it. It doesn't matter whether you are white, black, Latino or whatever, dependency breeds a feeling of entitlement amongst those who are mired in it. Somehow, they must rationalize why they deserve all this free stuff. Eventually, that leads to people feeling entitled to more than the pittance they are being given. They feel that they deserve whatever everyone else has. That they didn't earn it is irrelevant. It is owed to them for the same reason their welfare check is their birthright. Things aren't fair. Why should someone else have something they do not? Therefore, they are as justified in taking it as they are in swiping their EBT cards. This attitude is a recipe for societal dsisaster
That the exorbitant cost of the massive welfare state is causing many cities, states and yes, even federal government, to careen unavoidably into bankruptcy is not in dispute as we shall see later on in this book. What worries many, is what will happen when the excrement really hits the fan. Either we will continue to kick the can down the road until we end up like Greece:
That the exorbitant cost of the massive welfare state is causing many cities, states and yes, even federal government, to careen unavoidably into bankruptcy is not in dispute as we shall see later on in this book. What worries many, is what will happen when the excrement really hits the fan. Either we will continue to kick the can down the road until we end up like Greece:
or the saner heads will realize that the huge welfare gravy train must come to an end. And what is the attitude of the people addicted to the narcotic of dependency when their fix is interrupted? The London Rage:
For those of you who blithely reject the idea that it can't happen here... It's already begun:
It's not just in Philadelphia, it's also here, here, here and here. With all of this discontent, with the inner cities getting worse and worse andwith youth unemployment at record levels (particularly among young blacks and Latinos) how does the party that constructed all this failure and put these people on the plantation keep getting elected? As I noted before, it's all about one word. Racism. Poverty pimps, dirtbags like Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Maxine Waters and their academic and media allies have convinced those in the inner cities that white people are inherently racist to the core. They are the enemy. They are The Man.
24======================================================================================================
It would be tragic enough if these race traitors were just involved in some kind of corruption scam that only dealt with money, greed and power. Unfortunately, in order to sell the narcotic pill of dependency to their constituents, these politicians gladly turn to the divisive rhetoric of ethnic grievance and race baiting. They need to resort to this poisonous tactic in order to soothe the conscience of the dependency addicts with the rationalization for why they deserve their benefits and to create an enemy (white Republicans) that they can unite against. Thus, the fact that conservatives have moved beyond race to fully embrace the idea that we are all created equal and should be treated as equals, the race hustlers in the employ of the Democrat machine will never let go of the subject. To do so, would risk people waking up from the unreality of the Matrix:
24======================================================================================================
It would be tragic enough if these race traitors were just involved in some kind of corruption scam that only dealt with money, greed and power. Unfortunately, in order to sell the narcotic pill of dependency to their constituents, these politicians gladly turn to the divisive rhetoric of ethnic grievance and race baiting. They need to resort to this poisonous tactic in order to soothe the conscience of the dependency addicts with the rationalization for why they deserve their benefits and to create an enemy (white Republicans) that they can unite against. Thus, the fact that conservatives have moved beyond race to fully embrace the idea that we are all created equal and should be treated as equals, the race hustlers in the employ of the Democrat machine will never let go of the subject. To do so, would risk people waking up from the unreality of the Matrix:
Instead of encouraging people to get past race and the legacy of the past so that they can succeed in the present and the future, the overseers of the Democrat plantation do just the opposite. Rather than give people hope for the future, they assure them that there is none. Rather than encourage people to see another human being based upon the content of their character, they seek to divide them by the color of their skin into an us/them mentality. This is the real tragedy of Democrat welfare machine politics. Would be that there were more people like Morgan Freeman who get it:
Tragically, this type of thinking might lead to unraveling of the whole Democrat scam. Therefore, thoughtful and reasoned individuals like Morgan Freeman are few and far between among African-American leaders of the left. Instead you get pseudo-intellectuals like Bob Herbert of The New York Times giving high brow legitimacy to the politics of racial grievance:
I could sit here for hours and refute just about everything that Mr. Herbert says, but why bother? I am a racist too, right? Anything I say is just cover for the fact that I am a nasty conservative bigot. What is important about this clip is that it comes from a reporter from the eminent paper of record (hah!). When he says that this is a racist country, millions of liberals across the country nod their heads in agreement. It doesn't matter whether it's true, it only matters whether intelligent "enlightened" people like Herbert say so. According to this shaper of opinion, white people will never allow black people to have a shot in this society.
25======================================================================================================
When it isn't African-American "intellectuals" like the reprehensible Bob Herbert, it is civic leaders and preachers like Obama's pastor Jerehmiah Wright who are constantly reinforcing the notion thatthe black community are the victims of institutional white racism:
25======================================================================================================
When it isn't African-American "intellectuals" like the reprehensible Bob Herbert, it is civic leaders and preachers like Obama's pastor Jerehmiah Wright who are constantly reinforcing the notion thatthe black community are the victims of institutional white racism:
These are not words that are meant to heal the racial divide. These are not words meant to give hope. They are meant to roil racial grievance and inspire hate. It saddens me that Reverend Wright is using Jesus' name to justify his ideology because the end result of his rant is an appeal to separation and alienation rather than inclusion and integration. The only purpose that this foul language serves is to keep people stuck in the Matrix and unable to achieve their full potential.
Let's be honest, there is some truth to what Jeremiah is talking about. This is a society that is run by "rich white people". However, the Constitution of this country gives everyone an opportunity to rise to their potential regardless of race, creed or color. Everyone is born equal and should seize their birthright. By integrating into white society, they aren't selling out, they are changing the society from white to multi-racial. Everyone should be told this from birth and grow up to believe with the fullness of conviction that they are equal and they can succeed if they try. To doubt this for a minute, to believe that you are somehow oppressed is to admit that you are not equal and that places a huge burden on your efforts to achieve. Therefore, race hustlers like Wright do everything in their power to enforce the "oppression" meme that promotes dependency and grievance and not the "equal" meme with promotes opportunity and individual success.
The President of the United States sat in Reverend Wright's church for twenty years. He named one of his books after a Wright sermon, was married to Michelle by him and had his kids baptized by him. Barack Obama called Jeremiah Wright a mentor on many different occasions. Therefore, before Rev. Wright's controversial hate-mongering became too toxic for him, it is safe to assume that Barry endorsed what Wright was saying and the impact that race baiting would have on all those who heard it. Sad, doesn't even begin to describe how that makes me feel. Of all the people in the world who have benefited most from the opportunity that our society gives to each individual, you'd think that Barack would have known better. But, apparently, power is too much of an aphrodisiac and Barack Obama would rather keep the power generating welfare machine going than do the right thing by his fellow African-Americans.
Of course, most people who receive government benefits aren't black. They are either white or Latino. In areas where there is widespread white poverty and dependence, the rhetoric changes from "rich white people" to just "rich people". However, the basic premise remains the same. These poor whites are owed their benefits because the rich people have stolen it and they deserve at least a few crumbs from the table. La Raza tells Latinos that the white man stole their land and they are owed recompense. And who is the party of rich white people? Why it's those evil, greedy, fascist Republicans who are to blame for all that has gone wrong in their lives.
26======================================================================================================
This blaming of the GOP is particularly ironic when it comes to the subject of racism because it is the Republican party that tore this nation apart to free the slaves and it is the Republican party that continues to try to free people from the Democrat plantation by proposing things like school choice:
Let's be honest, there is some truth to what Jeremiah is talking about. This is a society that is run by "rich white people". However, the Constitution of this country gives everyone an opportunity to rise to their potential regardless of race, creed or color. Everyone is born equal and should seize their birthright. By integrating into white society, they aren't selling out, they are changing the society from white to multi-racial. Everyone should be told this from birth and grow up to believe with the fullness of conviction that they are equal and they can succeed if they try. To doubt this for a minute, to believe that you are somehow oppressed is to admit that you are not equal and that places a huge burden on your efforts to achieve. Therefore, race hustlers like Wright do everything in their power to enforce the "oppression" meme that promotes dependency and grievance and not the "equal" meme with promotes opportunity and individual success.
The President of the United States sat in Reverend Wright's church for twenty years. He named one of his books after a Wright sermon, was married to Michelle by him and had his kids baptized by him. Barack Obama called Jeremiah Wright a mentor on many different occasions. Therefore, before Rev. Wright's controversial hate-mongering became too toxic for him, it is safe to assume that Barry endorsed what Wright was saying and the impact that race baiting would have on all those who heard it. Sad, doesn't even begin to describe how that makes me feel. Of all the people in the world who have benefited most from the opportunity that our society gives to each individual, you'd think that Barack would have known better. But, apparently, power is too much of an aphrodisiac and Barack Obama would rather keep the power generating welfare machine going than do the right thing by his fellow African-Americans.
Of course, most people who receive government benefits aren't black. They are either white or Latino. In areas where there is widespread white poverty and dependence, the rhetoric changes from "rich white people" to just "rich people". However, the basic premise remains the same. These poor whites are owed their benefits because the rich people have stolen it and they deserve at least a few crumbs from the table. La Raza tells Latinos that the white man stole their land and they are owed recompense. And who is the party of rich white people? Why it's those evil, greedy, fascist Republicans who are to blame for all that has gone wrong in their lives.
26======================================================================================================
This blaming of the GOP is particularly ironic when it comes to the subject of racism because it is the Republican party that tore this nation apart to free the slaves and it is the Republican party that continues to try to free people from the Democrat plantation by proposing things like school choice:
Do you hear that? Republicans cheering and giving a standing ovation for one of the most respected members of the party when she talks about helping poor people get a decent education and calling it the civil rights issue of our time. Yet, somehow the party of slavery, segregation and the KKK have convinced African-Americans that they are their best friends. This has to be the most masterful bit of political jujitsu in history:
Yeah, the party switched sides. Uh, huh. Right. That makes perfect sense. The party that freed the slaves, fought segregation, passed all those constitutional amendments that guaranteed blacks the same rights as every other citizen, passed the first civil rights act, were the majority and deciding votes to pass the civil rights legislation of the Sixties all of the sudden morphed into Democrats like Bull Connor. Not!
So how do they get away with it?
So how do they get away with it?
27======================================================================================================
It's hard to be the party that sucks. No one loves the guy who says that play time must come to an end. Once the Democrats became the party of the free lunch and magically spun themselves from the party of racism to the party of compassion, the GOP had no idea how to respond. By the time Reagan became President and began cutting the budget to spark an economic renaissance, it was hard wired into the recipient communities that the Republicans were the enemy. It didn't matter that Reagan's policies were ultimately good for poor and minority communities. The impression that welfare cuts = racism had taken hold.
Any time a Republican, particularly a black one, tries to make the case that hard work, achievement and trying to live up to one's potential is a preferred way to live, they are quickly labeled as racists or traitors. An idea like that is too dangerous to the Democrats and their allies. If people start to agree with this common sense and tried and true idea, they might begin to lose their stranglehold on the minority vote. That cannot be allowed to happen. Therefore, anyone who attempts to reach out to poor and disadvantaged audiences with programs that offer hope for a better life, must be squashed. Here's how it goes down:
It's hard to be the party that sucks. No one loves the guy who says that play time must come to an end. Once the Democrats became the party of the free lunch and magically spun themselves from the party of racism to the party of compassion, the GOP had no idea how to respond. By the time Reagan became President and began cutting the budget to spark an economic renaissance, it was hard wired into the recipient communities that the Republicans were the enemy. It didn't matter that Reagan's policies were ultimately good for poor and minority communities. The impression that welfare cuts = racism had taken hold.
Any time a Republican, particularly a black one, tries to make the case that hard work, achievement and trying to live up to one's potential is a preferred way to live, they are quickly labeled as racists or traitors. An idea like that is too dangerous to the Democrats and their allies. If people start to agree with this common sense and tried and true idea, they might begin to lose their stranglehold on the minority vote. That cannot be allowed to happen. Therefore, anyone who attempts to reach out to poor and disadvantaged audiences with programs that offer hope for a better life, must be squashed. Here's how it goes down:
Can you imagine that proposing to eliminate the incredibly bloated and wasteful salary of a unionized janitor in order to hire thirty kids so that they can get their first jobs and work experience in life would be seen as racist? Oh, no. It's better that they all follow the path that leads straight to the Democrat plantation. You will never see a better example of how leftists try to paint conservatives as racist than this. I mean, according the them, it's racist to propose that people might do better if they had a job:
Ah well, attacking Republicans as racists for trying to help kids have their first job experience. That's just how the Democrats roll. Now that we are getting closer to the reelection campaign of the first black president, the Democrats are looking for any way they can to gin up racial animosity so as to increase turnout in the election. They thought they had found a winner in the Trayvon Martin case. In a coordinated effort between black race hustlers like Al Sharpton, members of the Congressinal Black Caucus, and the President of the United States they tried to play this tragedy for all it was worth. They even got their buddies in the state controlled media to instigate the whole thing. Even to the point of out and out fraud:
Oops! Busted! As the facts would be revealed,this case looked less and less like a racially motivated crime. Particularly, since George Zimmerman wasn't 100% white. It turns out that his mom was a Latina. This didn't stop The New York Times from trying to keep the racial angle alive by coming up with the brand new term: white hisapanic. As if, they ever called Barack Obama a white African-American. However, as time went on and the FBI would rule this not a hate crime, this case fizzled in terms of becoming as big a racially polarizing event as the OJ trial. But, rest assured, the moment another tragic event occurs that they can use to agitate and anger the black community, the Democrats and their media allies will turn it into a raging inferno. The black vote is that critical to the Democrat party.
28====================================================================================================
Which brings us to voter fraud. Now, it's no secret to anybody that Democrats have engaged in massive voter fraud for decades. Who can forget how Mayor Daley's Chicago machine routinely won with the support of the residents of cemeteries. Many people think that voter fraud in Chicago and in LBJ's Texas cost Nixon the election in 1960. But, leaving that aside, voter fraud really began to rear its ugly head in the aftermath of the 2000 Bush/Gore election when it became obvious to everyone in the country that every vote mattered. This was amplified by the shenanigans that put Christine Gregoire in office in Washington and Al Franken to the US Senate from Minnesota. Go check out what happened in those "recounts" and you'll understand why there is a movement towards trying to make our elections fair and beyond reproach.
For that purpose, the Federal Election Reform Commission chaired by President Jimmy Carter and Secretary of State James Baker was set up to make recommendations on how to make elections more fair. One of the suggestions they came up with was Voter ID laws. Since that time, many states have enacted such laws and the Supreme Court has ruled that they are Constitutional. So far so good, right? I mean what could be wrong about making sure someone is who they say they are before they are allowed to cast their vote. Indeed, that's the opinion held by 81% of Americans across racial and ethnic lines
28====================================================================================================
Which brings us to voter fraud. Now, it's no secret to anybody that Democrats have engaged in massive voter fraud for decades. Who can forget how Mayor Daley's Chicago machine routinely won with the support of the residents of cemeteries. Many people think that voter fraud in Chicago and in LBJ's Texas cost Nixon the election in 1960. But, leaving that aside, voter fraud really began to rear its ugly head in the aftermath of the 2000 Bush/Gore election when it became obvious to everyone in the country that every vote mattered. This was amplified by the shenanigans that put Christine Gregoire in office in Washington and Al Franken to the US Senate from Minnesota. Go check out what happened in those "recounts" and you'll understand why there is a movement towards trying to make our elections fair and beyond reproach.
For that purpose, the Federal Election Reform Commission chaired by President Jimmy Carter and Secretary of State James Baker was set up to make recommendations on how to make elections more fair. One of the suggestions they came up with was Voter ID laws. Since that time, many states have enacted such laws and the Supreme Court has ruled that they are Constitutional. So far so good, right? I mean what could be wrong about making sure someone is who they say they are before they are allowed to cast their vote. Indeed, that's the opinion held by 81% of Americans across racial and ethnic lines
It's not as if voter fraud isn't easy to commit. Here is James O'Keefe showing that in many jurisdictions, you can say you are anybody and they'll let you vote. Even if you claim to be the Attorney General of the United States:
29======================================================================================================
Now, here we have an issue that perfectly expresses who the Democrats really are. You see, Eric Holder, Barack Obama and the Democrat party say that voter ID laws are racist. Yeah, you heard me right. Ridiculous, no? But, still, they say these laws are racist because Republicans are using them to suppress minority voters. According to them, it is minorities and the elderly that have the most difficulty in obtaining proper ID. Therefore this is just an evil ploy by the GOP to prevent them from voting. It is an attempt to reinstitute Jim Crow all over again:
Now, here we have an issue that perfectly expresses who the Democrats really are. You see, Eric Holder, Barack Obama and the Democrat party say that voter ID laws are racist. Yeah, you heard me right. Ridiculous, no? But, still, they say these laws are racist because Republicans are using them to suppress minority voters. According to them, it is minorities and the elderly that have the most difficulty in obtaining proper ID. Therefore this is just an evil ploy by the GOP to prevent them from voting. It is an attempt to reinstitute Jim Crow all over again:
That is what you said Debbie. As the Chairwoman of the Democrat party, you are just echoing what your President, Attorney General and former head of the Congreassional Black Caucus have said, as well. I don't understand why you try to deny it. You all believe that Voter ID is racist and you'll do anything to promote that meme in order to gin up anger in the black community and to help you raise money from the gullible. Why, here is former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi going for the hard to pull off buy one charge of racism get one free:
Yeah, that's it Nancy. The Republicans in the House held Eric Holder in contempt because he is a black man. In addition, they are attempting to prevent him from stopping their reimposition of Jim Crow Voter ID laws. It has nothing to do with the fact that he refuses to turn over documents in a scandal that led to hundreds of guns falling into the hands of Mexican drug gangs which left an American border agent and thousands of Mexicans dead. Nope. Nothing to do with anger over the President citing executive privilege where there is no privilege to be had, but that allows them to push off the investigation till after the election. All those are just minor insignificant factors. What it's really about is keeping the black man down! Right, Nancy?
Now, let's stop the name calling for a second, take a deep breath and get some unpleasant facts out of the way. First of all, voter fraud has been going on for years. When organizations like ACORN are found to have commited crimes by fraudulently registering people, it makes you wonder whether some of those "fake" folk actually showed up to vote. I mean, if there is no Voter ID, who is to say that Mickey D. Mouse doesn't really exist? I mean Frank Zappa named his kids Moon Unit and Dweezil so nothing in the way of names is totally absurd in this country. So, say ACORN and the local Democrat party pick a couple of friendly precincts to bus a couple of hundred people to vote using fake names culled from the fake registration forms they sent in for those districts. Who is to say they don't live there and aren't who they say they are if no one asks for ID? Moreover, I personally know an illegal alien who was registered to vote by ACORN types. That person was able to register to vote without a problem and was sent a Voter ID card. So, please, don't tell me this doesn't happen. I come from New Jersey!
That's the argument in favor of Voter ID. It is a law that makes it that much more difficult to commit fraud. Not impossible, that's what absentee ballots are for after all. But, at least a little bit harder. That said, I do truly understand that many people who don't have ID's happen to be elderly and minority and might find it a daunting task to obtain one. Anyone who has ever had to deal with the government knows that the whole thing is badly run and totally disorganized. Heck, you could get lost for days inside some of New Jersey's county offices trying to get an official ID.
30======================================================================================================
What makes Democrats despicable, in my opinion, is that identification is critical for living a full life in this country. Just about anything worth doing requires a photo ID to do it. You want to fly somewhere? ID please. Take a train? ID please. Start a bank account? Your ID sir. Apply for a job? ID required. Buy alcohol? ID. Buy cigarettes? ID. Enter most federal buildings including the very Justice Department Eric Holder runs? ID is required. Attend the Democrat National Convention to hear President Barack Obama speak. May I please see some identification. I could go on and mention all the freedoms and opportunities in this country you are denied if you don't have identification. Since most of the people who don't have ID cards are the most disadvantaged among us, you'd think that the party of compassion would be promoting a policy to ensure nationwide access to free Identification Cards. After all, this is the same political party that is willing to trample all over the First Amendment in order to guarantee free "access" to birth control for every woman in America.
Now that's an idea that would really help people out: guaranteed free access to identification. All Democrats would have to do is to call these evil, vote supressing Republicans bluff. Strike a compromise with them. I know that is a dirty word in today's politics, but it wold be for a good cause. Democrats should say: So, you want people to show ID? Fine. We'll agree as long as you provide a mobile ID unit that will go to those who can't get out of the house and process their paperwork for them. We'll agree to the law as long as the ID is free and that Hospitals will be reimbursed for the cost of the birth certificate. This is almost exactly what is in the Voter ID law passed in Pennsylvania, but Democrats fought it tooth and nail. A proposal like this would empower many Americans and give them access to more and better opportunity to pursue the fullness of their potential as human beings. At the same time it would make it harder to commit voter fraud. A win-win for everyone right?
Uh, no. That isn't the Democrat position. It has never even been proposed. You see, that doesn't help them. And that... is what shows how transparently naked their desire for power is. If they cared about those they claim are being oppressed, they'd try to help them access the fullness of society that having an ID enables. Instead, they cry racism to gin up turnout and fundraising among gullible white liberals, while at the same time fight to stop any attempts to restrict voter fraud. Now, I am not saying that this means that this is because the Democrats have a master plan to commit fraud in the coming election. Okay, I do believe that. But, it is not something I can prove, so I am not going to make that accusation as fact. However, I do believe that they want to make sure that the ID-less can still come out to pull the lever for Democrats. As far as they are concerned it's the votes that matter. As long they can get you to the polls to vote for them, they don't give a flying leap whether when you are done you still don't have access to all that America has to offer. Once you vote, they wipe their hands with you. And this reveals the ultimate truth about their party. It isn't Republicans who believe in a F*ck the poor philosophy. It is the Democrats.
It seems so obvious to me that we as a society must think anew about how to help people help themselves without destroying the family and creating a culture of dependency. However, we know that will never happen. The Democrats would never allow anything like that to become law. They need to maintain their hegemony as the party of "compassion" and dole out the goodies to "their" people. Yes, the Democrats and the left are the party of the poor and the downtrodden. At least, as long as they remain poor, stay inside the Matrix and keep cashing the checks while voting D come November.
Ask yourself whether the current system of antipoverty efforts is working. If not, ask who stands in the way of even one single thing being done to change it. Think about it. Barack Obama was a community organizer. He's seen how bad things can be for people on the south side of Chicago. As I write this, it is suffering through a ghastly period of gang violence and the needless deaths of little innocent children. Yet, can you name one major new policy that Obama has developed and proposed to fix this problem derived from his years of experience? I can't. I know that he has sent more Obama bucks into the community and I know that he has waived the work requirement for welfare, thus gutting the most successful reform in the program's history. The sad reality is that Barry O and his Democrat allies like the status-quo just the way it is. That's why they propose nothing new. Certainly, nothing that will help anyone in the community. Because keeping the poor of America on the plantation and voting for Democrats in order to keep the Trillion dollar gravy train going is the key to their electoral success.
In the end, who really cares more? Those who seem to believe that the only solution to poverty and lack of proper education is to throw even more money on systems and programs that have demonstrably failed or those who want to try a different approach? At what point, do we admit that fifty years of redistributive spending have not only done nothing to help the poor, but have actually hurt them? Who really cares more about those less fortunate? Those whose main goal is to give them fish in exchange for votes or those who want each and every one of them to learn how to fish for themselves? The answer to those questions may very well determine whether we lose not just another generation of the poor, but whether we can survive as a nation at all.
Now, let's stop the name calling for a second, take a deep breath and get some unpleasant facts out of the way. First of all, voter fraud has been going on for years. When organizations like ACORN are found to have commited crimes by fraudulently registering people, it makes you wonder whether some of those "fake" folk actually showed up to vote. I mean, if there is no Voter ID, who is to say that Mickey D. Mouse doesn't really exist? I mean Frank Zappa named his kids Moon Unit and Dweezil so nothing in the way of names is totally absurd in this country. So, say ACORN and the local Democrat party pick a couple of friendly precincts to bus a couple of hundred people to vote using fake names culled from the fake registration forms they sent in for those districts. Who is to say they don't live there and aren't who they say they are if no one asks for ID? Moreover, I personally know an illegal alien who was registered to vote by ACORN types. That person was able to register to vote without a problem and was sent a Voter ID card. So, please, don't tell me this doesn't happen. I come from New Jersey!
That's the argument in favor of Voter ID. It is a law that makes it that much more difficult to commit fraud. Not impossible, that's what absentee ballots are for after all. But, at least a little bit harder. That said, I do truly understand that many people who don't have ID's happen to be elderly and minority and might find it a daunting task to obtain one. Anyone who has ever had to deal with the government knows that the whole thing is badly run and totally disorganized. Heck, you could get lost for days inside some of New Jersey's county offices trying to get an official ID.
30======================================================================================================
What makes Democrats despicable, in my opinion, is that identification is critical for living a full life in this country. Just about anything worth doing requires a photo ID to do it. You want to fly somewhere? ID please. Take a train? ID please. Start a bank account? Your ID sir. Apply for a job? ID required. Buy alcohol? ID. Buy cigarettes? ID. Enter most federal buildings including the very Justice Department Eric Holder runs? ID is required. Attend the Democrat National Convention to hear President Barack Obama speak. May I please see some identification. I could go on and mention all the freedoms and opportunities in this country you are denied if you don't have identification. Since most of the people who don't have ID cards are the most disadvantaged among us, you'd think that the party of compassion would be promoting a policy to ensure nationwide access to free Identification Cards. After all, this is the same political party that is willing to trample all over the First Amendment in order to guarantee free "access" to birth control for every woman in America.
Now that's an idea that would really help people out: guaranteed free access to identification. All Democrats would have to do is to call these evil, vote supressing Republicans bluff. Strike a compromise with them. I know that is a dirty word in today's politics, but it wold be for a good cause. Democrats should say: So, you want people to show ID? Fine. We'll agree as long as you provide a mobile ID unit that will go to those who can't get out of the house and process their paperwork for them. We'll agree to the law as long as the ID is free and that Hospitals will be reimbursed for the cost of the birth certificate. This is almost exactly what is in the Voter ID law passed in Pennsylvania, but Democrats fought it tooth and nail. A proposal like this would empower many Americans and give them access to more and better opportunity to pursue the fullness of their potential as human beings. At the same time it would make it harder to commit voter fraud. A win-win for everyone right?
Uh, no. That isn't the Democrat position. It has never even been proposed. You see, that doesn't help them. And that... is what shows how transparently naked their desire for power is. If they cared about those they claim are being oppressed, they'd try to help them access the fullness of society that having an ID enables. Instead, they cry racism to gin up turnout and fundraising among gullible white liberals, while at the same time fight to stop any attempts to restrict voter fraud. Now, I am not saying that this means that this is because the Democrats have a master plan to commit fraud in the coming election. Okay, I do believe that. But, it is not something I can prove, so I am not going to make that accusation as fact. However, I do believe that they want to make sure that the ID-less can still come out to pull the lever for Democrats. As far as they are concerned it's the votes that matter. As long they can get you to the polls to vote for them, they don't give a flying leap whether when you are done you still don't have access to all that America has to offer. Once you vote, they wipe their hands with you. And this reveals the ultimate truth about their party. It isn't Republicans who believe in a F*ck the poor philosophy. It is the Democrats.
It seems so obvious to me that we as a society must think anew about how to help people help themselves without destroying the family and creating a culture of dependency. However, we know that will never happen. The Democrats would never allow anything like that to become law. They need to maintain their hegemony as the party of "compassion" and dole out the goodies to "their" people. Yes, the Democrats and the left are the party of the poor and the downtrodden. At least, as long as they remain poor, stay inside the Matrix and keep cashing the checks while voting D come November.
Ask yourself whether the current system of antipoverty efforts is working. If not, ask who stands in the way of even one single thing being done to change it. Think about it. Barack Obama was a community organizer. He's seen how bad things can be for people on the south side of Chicago. As I write this, it is suffering through a ghastly period of gang violence and the needless deaths of little innocent children. Yet, can you name one major new policy that Obama has developed and proposed to fix this problem derived from his years of experience? I can't. I know that he has sent more Obama bucks into the community and I know that he has waived the work requirement for welfare, thus gutting the most successful reform in the program's history. The sad reality is that Barry O and his Democrat allies like the status-quo just the way it is. That's why they propose nothing new. Certainly, nothing that will help anyone in the community. Because keeping the poor of America on the plantation and voting for Democrats in order to keep the Trillion dollar gravy train going is the key to their electoral success.
In the end, who really cares more? Those who seem to believe that the only solution to poverty and lack of proper education is to throw even more money on systems and programs that have demonstrably failed or those who want to try a different approach? At what point, do we admit that fifty years of redistributive spending have not only done nothing to help the poor, but have actually hurt them? Who really cares more about those less fortunate? Those whose main goal is to give them fish in exchange for votes or those who want each and every one of them to learn how to fish for themselves? The answer to those questions may very well determine whether we lose not just another generation of the poor, but whether we can survive as a nation at all.