Stumbled

I stumbled across this blog entry this morning. I've avoided contemplating this issue for some time but a couple quotes struck me.
"Posterity may very well know Katrina to be the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back in regard to the level of abuse Blacks in Amerikkka are willing to tolerate before we demand an end to it."
I'll disregard the "kkk" in the misspelling as hyperbole, but the author appears to be trying to make this point: "Blacks are abused in America". I may indeed live just east of Fairfield County, CT but I am not telling myself any lies. I know that Blacks are not abused. This is abuse. And this. And this. And this. Perhaps the author means Blacks are "held down by the Man!" Then what are all these government programs for? All these programs were designed for people who wished to help themselves. Helping oneself is the American way. However if you need more help it is available to you because Americans also are compassionate. The most compassionate country in the world. Bar none.

Consider this testimony by an official of CATO institute. Unless one helps oneself no advancement happens! The most important recommendation as I see it is:
"Given this record of failure, I recommend that Congress:
- In the long-term, Congress should end all federal funding of welfare. In the short-term, Congress should end the entitlement status of welfare and return control of welfare programs to the states with as few strings as possible. Congress should resist the temptation to impose conservative mandates on the states in lieu of liberal mandates.
- Begin the transition from government welfare to private charity by creating a dollar-for-dollar tax credit for contributions to private charity.
- Make adoption easier. This includes eliminating barriers to transracial adoption, including repeal of the Metzenbaum amendment passed last year.
- Tear down tax and regulatory barriers to economic growth and entrepreneurism, particularly in high poverty areas."

And the conclusion should be read to all Americans:
"We should not pretend that reforming our social welfare system will come easily or painlessly. In particular, ending government welfare will be difficult for those people who currently use welfare the way it was intended -- as a temporary support mechanism during hard times. However, these people -- almost by definition -- remain on welfare for very short periods of time. A compassionate society can find other ways to deal with the problem of people who need temporary assistance to get through hard times. But our current government-run welfare system is costly to taxpayers and -- more important -- cruel to the children born into a cycle of welfare dependency and hopelessness."

The author of the hyperbole should also consider that the spending on welfare in "rich" states and poor states is not the same.

"This study sought to understand how state fiscal capacity affected spending on social welfare programs. It found that low fiscal capacity states spent less on social welfare programs than did high fiscal capacity states and that these differences were greater for cash assistance and non-health social services than for health-related programs."

"Rich" States spend an amazing amount more than poor states on welfare and other programs. I have a therory that this is due to the fact that rich people can afford to be liberal, but that's another rant.

So if the rich are not the enemy of the poor. Who is? This group. If ever a group were set up to take advantage of every benefit given by the government it's this one. But they are worse. They continually DIVIDE this country into two groups. Pitting them against each other when they should be working together to better themselves and America.

There was a song that came out in the 80's by the Rainmakers that hits home in many ways. Depending on one's outlook on life it could mean two decidedly different things. One could say: "How dare those guys disparage people in need!!" or one could call this the observations of someone in an unfortunate circumstance yet still looking on the bright side in an attempt to pull themselves up by the bootstraps and make a better life for themselves by not accepting that government cheese forever, but only until they get back on their own two feet.

Every person is able to make something out of their life. I moved to KC with little savings and worked four part time jobs until I got a decent full time position. I worked pretty hard to get my degree. I got grants from the government to pay for part of my education. I took out loans. Everything is paid back now. Those grants and loans got me through school and I'm thankful.

I do not expect every American to act as I do. God forbid! I'm no role model. But, if we all took responsibility for our "ownselves" we'd be a lot better off and a lot happier.