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| Name: |
water_watcher
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| Subject: |
Uncle Sam's plantation
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Date:
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7/23/2009 9:02:00 PM
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Back on Uncle Sam's plantation
Star Parker - Syndicated Columnist
Six years ago I wrote a book called Uncle Sam's Plantation. I wrote the book to tell my own story of what I saw living inside the welfare state and my own transformation out of it.
I said in that book that indeed there are two Americas -- a poor America on socialism and a wealthy America on capitalism.
I talked about government programs like Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Job Opportunities and Basic Skills Training (JOBS), Emergency Assistance to Needy Families with Children (EANF), Section 8 Housing, and Food Stamps.
A vast sea of perhaps well-intentioned government programs, all initially set into motion in the 1960s by Democrats, that were going to lift the nation's poor out of poverty.
A benevolent Uncle Sam welcomed mostly poor black Americans onto the government plantation. Those who accepted the invitation switched mindsets from "How do I take care of myself?" to "What do I have to do to stay on the plantation?"
Instead of solving economic problems, government welfare socialism created monstrous moral and spiritual problems -- the kind of problems that are inevitable when individuals turn responsibility for their lives over to others.
The legacy of American socialism is our blighted inner cities, dysfunctional inner city schools, and broken black families
Through God's grace, I found my way out. It was then that I understood what freedom meant and how great this country is
I had the privilege of working on welfare reform in 1996 which was passed by a Republican controlled Congress.
I thought we were on the road to moving socialism out of our poor black communities and replacing it with wealth-producing American capitalism.
But, incredibly, we are now going in the opposite direction.
Instead of poor America on socialism becoming more like rich American on capitalism, rich America on capitalism is becoming like poor America on socialism.
Uncle Sam has welcomed our banks onto the plantation and they have said, "Thank you, Suh."
Now, instead of thinking about what creative things need to be done to serve customers, they are thinking about what they have to tell Massah in order to get their cash.
There is some kind of irony that this is all happening under our first black president on the 200th anniversary of the birthday of Abraham Lincoln.
Worse, socialism seems to be the element of our new young president. And maybe even more troubling, our corporate executives seem happy to move onto the plantation.
In an op-Ed on the opinion page of the Washington Post, Mr.Obama is clear that the goal of his trillion dollar spending plan is much more than short term economic stimulus.
"This plan is more than a prescription for short-term spending -- it's a strategy for America 's long-term growth and opportunity in areas such as renewable energy, healthcare, and education."
Perhaps more incredibly, Obama seems to think that government taking over an economy is a new idea. Or that massive growth in government can take place "with unprecedented transparency and accountability."
Yes, sir, we heard it from Jimmy Carter when he created the Department of Energy, the Synfuels Corporation, and the Department of Education.
Or how about the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 -- The War on Poverty -- which President Johnson said "...does not merely expand old programs or improve what is already being done. It charts a new course. It strikes at the causes, not just the consequences of poverty."
Trillions of dollars later, black poverty is the same. But black families are not, with triple the incidence of single-parent homes and out-of-wedlock births.
It's not complicated. Americans can accept Barack Obama's invitation to move onto the plantation. Or they can choose personal responsibility and freedom.
Does anyone really need to think about what the choice should be?
"The trouble with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money."
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| Name: |
Barneget
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| Subject: |
Uncle Sam's plantation
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Date:
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7/23/2009 9:38:50 PM
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The reason why men enter into society is the preservation of their property. Therefore, whenever the legislators endeavor to take away and destroy the property of the people, OR TO REDUCE THEM TO SLAVERY UNDER ARBITRARY POWER, they put themselves into a state of war with the people, who are thereupon absolved from any further obedience, and are left to the common refuge which God hath provided for all men against force and violence.
Whensoever, therefore, the legislative shall transgress this fundamental rule of society, and either by ambition, fear, folly and corruption, endeaver to grasp themselves, or put into the hand of any other, an absolute power over the lives, liberties and estates of the people (personal wealth) by this breach of trust THEY (the government) FORFIET THE POWER THE PEOPLE PUT INTO THEIR HANDS....
John Locke
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| Name: |
Talullahhound
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| Subject: |
Uncle Sam's plantation
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Date:
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7/24/2009 9:12:02 AM
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You know, I thought this would be a serious article about the problems of the welfare system, but it just turned into a political rant.
I totally agree that the welfare systems put in place in the 1960's have only encouraged people to stay on welfare vice using it as a temporary means to tide one. It seems as though no matter what system is put in place, there are those that will find a way to exploit it. And there doesn't seem to be a means of putting any checks and balancing into it. Past generations, it would be considered shameful for anyone to be receiving public assistance, but as our society changed, welfare became seen as a right instead of temporary help.
I don't know that Obama is necessarily to blame for this. We've had a mixture of democrats and republicans in the WH since the 1960's and none of them have found a way to change it. In fact, most of them have added to it. Like social security, it's considered to be a politically "untouchable" program.
We as a culture and a society have made it "okay" to take welfare. Bush's "faith based initiatives" have funneled public money into the communiities for welfare. While I think the issue of welfare is best dealt with in the community, and not by government programs, I would argue that Obama hasn't done anymore more to add to the welfare system any more than any other president.
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| Name: |
widgethater
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| Subject: |
Uncle Sam's plantation
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Date:
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7/24/2009 11:19:07 AM
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Why is it, when your income is taxed at over 13% for Social Security, it is equated with welfare?
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| Name: |
water_watcher
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| Subject: |
Uncle Sam's plantation
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Date:
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7/24/2009 1:01:54 PM
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She is not blaming Obama for the past, but she is blaming him for futher contributing to the problem. I agree 100% with her that anyone, not just blacks, that are not forced in to providing for themselves, normally will not do it on their own. So the problem continues to worsen and the cycle of future generations repeat themselves. I applaud Clinton and the republican congress for the reforms to welfare. But Obama has spoken out that these were wrong and it should not have been eliminated. His thinking is to "provide" for those in need through the redistribution of wealth, rather than creating the opportunities for those less fortunate. We are taking a huge step backwards with his programs and will only add more to the government handouts. His policies do not create opportunities and start to reverse the poverty ... they only provide a means to survive but never break out of the cycle.
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| Name: |
MrHodja
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| Subject: |
Uncle Sam's plantation
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Date:
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7/24/2009 8:02:03 PM
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And the cynical side of me says that this dependence helps to ensure continuing election of the political party most likely to continue or expand said dependence.
I don't believe anything Obama says.
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| Name: |
Talullahhound
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| Subject: |
Uncle Sam's plantation
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Date:
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7/24/2009 9:21:23 PM
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I actually don't trust anything that ANY politican says. The nature of politics is to people please.
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| Name: |
Talullahhound
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| Subject: |
Uncle Sam's plantation
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Date:
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7/24/2009 9:22:59 PM
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I wasn't equating SS with Welfare. I was saying that Welfare programs, like SS, are politically untouchable. No one wants to hear about SS reform or welfare reform, particularly the recipients.
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