Lacking values, people don't have the capital they need to start the business like your Dad did.
Cosmic... my father didn't have any special acess to capital.. Remember, I said he was dirt poor and ran off and joined the navy in order to be able to make a living and finish his education.
When he got out he had saved some money and went to work with one of his brothers hanging sheetrock. He saved his money, bid projects on his own, working hard. I remember my mother telling me how he would come home late some nights and how she would spot tears in his eyes, due to the pain from his stiff and sore muscles.....
On the basis of his being a good credit risk, and showing results, he was able to borrow money and build his business and put other people to work. But one quick story... I remember him ALWAYS complaing about his union workers, which were required for him to bid on government projects. He told me that he was constantly having to go in and redo their work in order to meet the clients requirements because they knew that their jobs were secure and thus they didn't have to perform as well as the non-union workers. Eventually, he got so sick of the BS and ungodly paperwork that he sold his business to his partner and went back to being a small time contractor and doing specialize construction for wealthy clients.
What I guess I'm trying to say here is that having a bit of struggle in one's life is actually good. There is nothing wrong with being poor so long as the opportunities exist, or are created, for those who have the drive and desire to succeed. That's what I'm about... creating opportunities and helping people succeed. But certainly not at the expense of making sure that NO innocent individuals such as children go hungry or without medical care.
Losers exist many times because they told they are losers and need the government to take care of them. They have been told that the white "majority" has held them down and prevented their being elevated to equal status. They have been provided an excuse for failure which leads to their giving up.
Btw, my father developed his own values, but certainly had the example of a christian, but not very sophisticated mother. Unfortunately, he and my grandfather had a dispute back in the early '70s that kept them apart for 20 years (my grandfather's fault for being so d*mn stubborn, I'm told.. :0).
As for drugs, it is the rare prison inmate who is merely sentenced for possessing drugs. Usually, they are able to cut deals for ratting on their suppliers. The people who make up the majority of the prison population consists of dealers who WOULDN'T rat on THEIR suppliers.
They had a choice between cooperating and going to jail. Most have chosen jail.. And then there's the issue about these guys generally packing heat and possessing a nasty propensity for shooting at one another in turf wars...
And BTW, I would prefer to believe that my sense of superiorty over violent criminals is rather justified.
Otherwise, I have every incentive to act just like they do, right?
It is also ridiculous to say "should we build prisons or school" as they are not mutually exclusive.
You build schools, but more importantly, maintain standards in essential academic fundamentals such as the 3 Rs. Because if you know those 3 disciplines, a person possesses the tools to learn new things. But it requires parents being held accountable, teachers being accountable, and most of all, CHILDREN being held accountable and not molly coddled and permitted to disrupt those students WHO ARE TRYING TO LEARN.
I'll tell you what... some of these inner city schools are annually spending tremendous amounts of money per student ($7,000 a student, or $210,000 per 30 seat classroom, in the DC schools) and accomplishing very little in comparison to those who do more with less.
This crap that conservatives only wish to cut education funds and deprive our children of the skills they require is just ridiculous, and one more example of the demonizing of the right that Clinton/Gore have engaged in.
What folks don't want is good money being thrown after bad.... and for parents to have a choice in which schools their children attend in order to foster quality through competition in the schools.
Prisons are for those who have DELIBERATELY chosen to violate the rights of others and something that HAVE TO EXIST in order that criminals are taken off the streets. Personally, I would rather hold public hangings of a few of the more violent ones rather than paying $40,000 a year feeding and sheltering them. That would reduce the amount of prison space we require and probably cut down on crime to boot.
Teaching our kids that they can get away with crime and misbehaving is quite likely the reason we have so much crime. Poverty does not necessarily breed crime (since my parents were both poor and neither of them resorted to mugging or stealing from their neighbors). No.. it is the cultural deterioration that prevents actions from having the appropriate positive or negative repercussions.
Good behavior should be rewarded with more opportunity (and in this period of worker shortages, it usually is), while negative behavior must be discouraged.
It's the "Only a Lad" mindset that is telling our kids that their actions will not have a long-lasting impact on their lives. After all, they are "only lads" and we should expect them to get into trouble.
Personally, I think a lot of problems can be solved at the adolescent level by mandating that troublesome students be sent to boarding schools and reformatories, as well as implementation of uniform standards in troubled schools.
If you can't force them to learn, at least you can make it possible for others to do so. And rather than permitting gangsta' colors to be worn, or kids to have their pants hanging down around their @sses, make 'em all dress the same.
No one said that wearing the latest fall fashions was a inalienable right for American kids.
Regards,
Ron |
