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Politics : Don't Blame Me, I Voted For Kerry -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Wayners who wrote (27137)	5/31/2004 11:37:17 AM
From: Orcastraiter	Respond to of 81568

I wouldn't concentrate public housing in small areas. I agree with that. The old idea of building a 16 story apartment building full of low income housing was definitely a mistake. I'm not sure what an A8 voucher is. But clearly public housing, where there is no ownership, or pride in your home, was a mistake. The thing about the schools being poor isn't a factor in DC. On a per student basis they spend more than anywhere in the US. If that is the case then they are likely spending the money poorly, and indeed stealing it from the coffers as you say. The fact that you do have money is not always a guarantee that it will be spent wisely. You need a good school board and good administrators and teachers too. Hey why don't you run for the school board and clean up the waste and redirect funds in a meaningful way? I agree that the parents must take responsibility for their children. But when the family cannot support itself, it usually causes the dissolution of the family. Single mothers turn to welfare, where often they can have no husband to even be eligible, which splits families and keeps them apart. Not to mention demoralizes the family members. When you add to that equation lack of good paying jobs, drugs, alcohol and crime you have an environment that favors gangs over families. I believe that we are helping to create that environment. I don't think that removing bad kids from families solves much. Because then you need to support and house that child. Foster homes are not always the answer, nor is institutionalization of the child. If you start taking kids out of families, then you are breaking up families, and creating the opportunity for the gangs to prey on these kids and young adults. I believe that the best ideas will support an environment that is conducive to families, community, jobs and education. Replace despair with hope. The way to do that best is to have family wage jobs available. If you don't have a head of household that can provide a roof, food, clothing, direction and love you're going to need more police, jails, courts, judges, and juvenile detention centers. It's about setting priorities. I think we have failed to put forward the ideas that promote family and opportunity. It takes more than lip service about being pro family. It takes solid policies that promote that kind of family support we need in this country. I don't profess to have all the answers, but I think that the problems are easily indentified. Government and the private sector need to join together in creating jobs and opportunity where there is none today. I don't think that we need to spend more money at it, in fact good ideas that promote family, jobs, opportunity will cost the taxpayer less money, and will increase the tax base. Orca