Duncan, I already stated that I believed there were economic incentives which led POOR young women to have too many babies out of wedlock, and that welfare reform was a worthy goal. But underlying poverty, not welfare, is at the bottom of this mess. I do not support the continuance of the welfare state, and my views on this subject are not even particularly liberal, and are certainly not platitudinous. Some of my writings do deal with underlying causes, however, and I think looking at those are threatening to people who lack compassion and just want to assume that when welfare ends, social problems will, as well. It is much more complex than that.
However, you started this discussion trying to argue that a general breakdown in morality fueled unwed births, and I disagree with that. The fact that the society has more wealth now than in the Depression is totally illogical to use in drawing any conclusions, because the women who have all those babies do not have more wealth.
Also, any meaningful welfare reform which actually ends with getting people out of poverty and headed up the ladder of stability and success in this culture will require such a vast investment of public resources that several studies have concluded the cost to taxpayers will be MORE expensive than welfare for the foreseeable future. If your idea is to cut people off welfare, and not raise the minimum wage so that people can actually live on it, or offer job training and other kinds of support, social pathologies at a level NEVER seen in this society will be the result, and I, for one, will be ashamed to be an American.
Incidentally, I agree with Tony Blair totally. Most of your assumptions about my positions are inaccurate. But I do believe we should feed hungry children, and if that view belongs only to the "tired nostrums of the discredited Left", then I am proud to be a leftist, and conclude that only the Left will be going to heaven, because the ruthless tactics the right relies on have no love or tolerance or compassion in them, and I think Jesus would be horrified and ashamed. |
