Welfare - A Subtle Destroyer of the Human Spirit>>Posted: Creators Syndicate Inc.
September 14, 2005
1:00 a.m. Eastern (c) 2005
In his 1935 State of the Union Address, FDR (President Franklin D. Roosevelt) spoke to a nation mired in the Depression, but still marinated in conservative values: "Continued dependence upon welfare", said FDR, "induces a spiritual disintegration which is fundamentally destructive to the national fiber. To dole our relief in this way is to
administer a narcotic, a subtle destroyer, of the human spirit."
Behind FDR's statement was the conviction that, while the Government must step in, in an emergency, in normal times, men provide the food, clothing and shelter for their families.
And we did, until the war pulled us out of the Depression and a postwar boom made us, in John K. Galbraith's phrase, "The Affluent Society." By the 1960's, America, the richest country on earth, was growing ever more prosperous, but with the 1964 landslide of LBJ, liberalism triumphed and began its great experiment.
Behind the Great Society was a great idea: to lift America's poor out of poverty, government should now take care of all their basic needs. By giving the poor welfare, subsidized food, public housing and free medical care, the government will end poverty in America.
At the Superdome, and New Orleans Convention Center, we saw the failure of 40 years of the Great Society. No sooner had Katrina passed by and the 17th Street levee broke than hundreds of young men who should have taken charge in helping the aged, the
sick and the women with babies to safety took to the streets to shoot, loot and rape. The New Orleans police, their numbers cut by deserters who left their posts to look after their own, engaged in running gun battles all day long just to stay alive, and to protect people.
It was the character and conduct of its people that makes the New Orleans disaster unique. After a hurricane, people's needs are simple: food, water, shelter, medical attention. But even this can be hard to meet. People buried in rubble, or those hiding in the attics of flooded homes are difficult to get to when covering such a large area. But, even with the incompetence of the Mayor, Governor & the torpor of Federal Officials, this was possible.
Coast Guard helicopters were operating Tuesday. There were roads open into the city for SUV's, buses and trucks. While New Orleans was flooded with stagnant water, people walked through it to the Convention Center and Superdome. The flimsiest boat could navigate.
Even if the Government dithered for days - so what - this does not explain the failure of the people themselves.
Between 1865 and 1940, the South - having lost a fourth of its best and bravest in battle, devastated by war, mired in poverty - was famous for the hardy self-reliance of her people, both black and white.
In 1940, hundreds of British fishermen and yachtsmen sailed back and forth daily under fire across a turbulent 23-mile Channel to rescue 300,000 soldiers stranded in Dunkirk. How do we explain to the world that a tenth that number of Americans could not be reached, in four
days, from across a simple stagnant pond?
The real disaster of Katrina was that society broke down. An
entire community could not come together, and cope. Liberalism, the idea that good intentions, and Government programs, can build a Great Society, was exposed as "fraud". After Trillions of tax dollars for Welfare, food stamps, public housing, job training and education have poured into the area since 1965, poverty remains pandemic. But today, when the police vanish, "community" disappears, and the sickening thought rises up of
men taking to the streets to prey on women and the weak.
Stranded for days in a pool of fetid water, almost everyone waited for the Government to come to save them. The stranded screamed into the cameras for help, the reporters screamed into the cameras for help, and the "civil rights leaders" screamed into the cameras that President Bush was responsible, and that President Bush was a racist.
Over the course of history, Americans as a whole, were famous for taking the initiative, for having young leaders rise up in a crisis to take command. See any of that at the Superdome?
Sri Lankans, and Indonesians, far poorer than we, did not behave like this in a tsunami that took 400 times as many lives as Katrina has.
We are the descendants of men and women who braved the North Atlantic in wooden boats to build a country in a strange land. Our ancestors traveled thousands of miles in covered wagons, fighting off Indians far braver than those "cowards" preying on the New Orleans' weak and poor.
Watching that performance in the Crescent City, it seems clear: We are not the people our parents were. And what are all our "Lords Temporal" now howling for? Though they erroneously accused Government of failing at every level, they want more government.
FDR was right. A "spiritual disintegration" has overtaken us. Government-as-first provider, the big idea of the Great Society, has proven to be "a narcotic, and a subtle destroyer of the human spirit."
Either we get off this narcotic, or it kills us, simple as that.
5 comments:
Except that again, you speak from a different point of view. The article says that the society broke down, I would say that it was broken before that.
The people that were there primarily didnt come over in boats across the atlantic willingly, but were chained to the bottom like animals. they didnt come over in covered wagons, but in chains...
while lisa pats you on the back for taking the words out of her mouth, she probably speaks from a white persons point of view as well...
these werent poor people in a poor country, these were poor black people in a rich country, with years of violence heaped upon them especially in the south....
Kill em all,then we wont have to worry about em...
lisa, you must be a little parrot... if things were so simple as you say, then there would be no controversy.. why doesnt the rest of the world see what you see? are all "democrats" and "liberals" here in this world just to provide irritating points of view? why doesnt the world march to your beat? answer: u want a simple solution and answer for things that just arent so easy...
i believe what you say, i just like to argue... you are right, all them shiftless good for nuthin darkies had it good, so a little rain spoiled their day and they acted like chil'en. we should take away their heap of swamp and give it to them hard workin mexicans.. uh, injuns, sorry i mean europeyans. their the hard workers, like the irish(the mexicans of the last century, good for nuthin alcoholics) or how about the catholics(the muslims of the previous century(papists devil worshipers)...
I did not know it was going to get so heated.
Nat
All this post says about color is both blacks and whites had it hard in the south between 1865 and 1940. So why always bring it up.
Maybe one day the race issue won't be an issue when people, like you, stop playing the race card and blaming everything on the color of ones skin. There is racial discremination against all races.
However, you are right, there are NO white or other races in New Orleans. Just blacks, whom all came over in chains. I thought slavery was abolished many years ago. I didn't know there were still slave ships coming in.
Now listen close as I really want to get the point across. NO ONE in the community, black, white, purple, blue or any other color, stepped up and took leadership to help their fellow citizens. That is the POINT of this article.
All they did was cry and yell that it wasn't fast enough and the governemtn "OWES" them more. If anything you owe the government for the cost of operating the helicopters when they pulled your dumbass off your rooftop. You were told to leave. You didn't. No one "OWES" you crap.
From what your saying, the government or us honkies should do everything for them because 1. They are poor and 2. They are black.
Give me a F#%king break.
The whole point is none of the citizens stood up and helped each other out in this extreme time of need. These people should have banded together for the basic instinct of survival and compassion of the elderly, women and children. But NOOOOOOO. None of them could do that. It must be because they are poor black folk.
Pull your head out Nat!!!!
I really am starting to think that liberalism IS a mental disorder. If only we could find a cure.
It is a white issue. 16 percent of those people couldnt get out cuz they didnt have a car... in your neighborhood, does 1 out of 6 walk to where they need to go? and if they were told, countless times, leave, and they couldnt and this was the same story over and over through the years,, you cant relate cuz you arent there, arent black arent poor and you dont live there...
not a simple story, dont paint it that way..
Lisa, the parrot, are you and texan the only conservatives left? Time is showing how your beloved fuhrer is leading us all down the path of disgrace...
luv ya babe
Nat
The fact of the matter is that no one there, whatever color they are took leadership and helped out the elderly, children, mothers, or anyone else. It was every person for themselves. When the transportation showed up there was almost rioting to get on the bus. Families were separated. Kids separated from their parents. Come on !!!! The elderly, women, children, and those that need medical attention first. Or is that too old fashion or conservative for you.
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