Welfare doesn’t cause hurricanes, floods or death
This is a reprinting of a piece written September 20, 2005.There’s much news being published lately on post-Katrina finger pointing and blame gaming. Unfortunately, some of it has a hint of severe right-wing idiocy, like the commentary by TIA Daily’s Robert Tracinski. Tracinski suggests that the New Orleans populace has nobody to blame but themselves for the tragic Katrina aftermath because the city continues to be a dumb, poor, welfare state. This is just another example of white affluence spouting off about things they know nothing about. When was the last time Tracinski visited someone in the projects?
Let's get real here. Welfare is not just a state of existence, it’s a state of mind--typically from the time one is born. Welfare isn't a garden where bad seeds are planted and then grown into persistent weeds. No, the problem is that this garden called welfare lets the weeds take over. The flowers never get a chance to bloom. And our government is the first to point out that it costs a lot of money to nurture flowers. Weeds are cheap. (Of course, that's not actually true if you look at the costs of the penal system.)
Welfare is a perpetual state of existence for those who live in poverty. And it breeds from one generation to another. Can you honestly blame a third generation welfare recipient for not holding values and mores that he or she has never known or seen? Does welfare raise people out of poverty? Provide them with an education? Teach them that hard work pays? Offer them an opportunity to have a real home, one they can take care of and call their own? No. It simply corrals the undesirables so that the rest of society can go about its business. Does a welfare recipient live in luxury, eat organic produce, stroll down the street in a suit to a well-paying job? Do you think they know anybody who does? No!
Fact: New Orleans public schools are 96% black
Fact: Only 76% of New Orleans public school students graduate from high school
Fact: Only 25% of New Orleans residents have bachelor's degrees or higher
Fact: Median household income in New Orleans is $27,133
Fact: Persons beneath the poverty level in New Orleans is 27.9%
I am in no way condoning lack of ambition or self-reliance, which is an obvious requirement in this country to keep food on the table and get ahead. However, it's out-right arrogance (and, maybe, ignorance) to suggest that one can get by in this country on self-reliance alone. Let's ask ourselves: Where did you get your values? Where did you get your education? Where did you grow up? Who put food on your table? Who took you to baseball practice? Who groomed you to get that first job? Who helped you with geometry? Who helped you get into college? Who helped you with the down payment on your first home? Who took a look at your life’s history and gave you approval for your first loan? Now, let's ask these questions of someone who's a product of welfare: Who helped you with your homework? Who helped you make dinner and put your brothers to bed while your mother was working her 12-hour shift at minimum wage? Who bought you new shoes, clothes and supplies for school? Who noticed you needed a tutor for English because you were having a hard time reading? Who showed you how to make some good cash pushing vials on a street corner? Who told you school wasn't important? Who told you that being tough on the street was essential? Who told you that having babies was no big deal? Who told you not to care too much because it was always going to be this way?
It’s evident that familial and community support is crucial to making better human beings. It would take a tremendous social effort to reverse the upbringing of the poverty-stricken, i.e., to change the "error" of their ways. Or, we can just give them a little bit of money for food, provide them with some squalid shelter away from the rest of us, and be done with it. Which one sounds easier to you? As you can see, our American community has already made its decision.
posted by tanagrame @ 8:30 AM
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