Posted on 03/04/2012 10:58:27 AM PST by ProgressingAmerica
Royal Meeker, who was an advisor and long time ally(details, see chapter 4) to Woodrow Wilson, wrote the following: (page 544)
In M. Colson's view the poor are poor through their own laziness, inability or thriftlessness; the rich are rich because of their own or their ancestors' virtues. The laws of property and of inheritance are almost above criticism. Any attempt to ameliorate the condition of those living at or below the minimum of subsistence must result in such an increase of the poorer classes that the result will inevitably be a larger number of miserable wretches living at or below the margin of starvation (volume i, pages 378 et seq.). This out-Malthuses Malthus; for the English economist, in the later editions of his Essay on Population, modified drastically the original rigor of his reasoning. In his second volume, treating of labor and labor problems, M. Colson somewhat abates the severity of his laisser-faire theories but in a way that will meet with the disapproval of many economists. Speaking of the evils of the sweating system, he admits the mischief of wages below the minimum of subsistence, of unsanitary workrooms and of excessively long hours. But all these evils come about because the workers, male and female, are unskilled, ignorant and superabundant. The remedy for these conditions is not a minimum wage, but a contribution by the state, sufficient, when added to his meager earnings, to enable the underpaid and irregularly employed worker to eke out a livelihood. The choice for these poor wretches is between underpaid work and no work at all. The state should not support them wholly but should make up the difference between their actual wage and a living wage. It seems to the reviewer that all experience has shown that this is the worst "solution" that can possibly be found for this hard social problem. This is the "solution" which was tried for so many years in England, with such disastrous results. It is much better to enact a minimum wage law, even if it deprives these unfortunates of work. Better that the state should support the inefficient wholly and prevent the multiplication of the breed than subsidize incompetence and unthrift, enabling them to bring forth after their kind. M. Colson says nothing of the duty of the state to provide manual and technical training for those born under its sovereignty, to the end that the inefficient may be diminished or eliminated. One cannot avoid thinking that the great French economist seeks to exonerate individual enterprisers from the charge of extortion by an appeal to vague general theories which have no applicability to the case under discussion.
I think this is poorly written. First, who is M. Colson? I searched for the title of the book he is responding to is "Cours d'Economie Politique, by C. Colson", and searching online, the author's name is indeed Clement Colson, from what I can see. Further, the last few lines is mainly what caught my eye. But at first, it's not immediate as to if he's objecting to Colson's eugenic view, or lack therof. This is nasty, and it requires a bit of insight into the mind of a progressive in order to properly interpret this. As was written in the New Republic in 1916:
Imbecility breeds imbecility as certainly as white hens breed white chickens; and under laissez-faire imbecility is given full chance to breed, and does so in fact at a rate far superior to that of able stocks.
This explains why those who are even more well versed in progressivism than I am, attribute these words to Meeker himself, rather than what appears to be a projection on Colson. Jonah Goldberg does so on page 264 of his book Liberal Fascism, and The Freeman does so as well, though they don't give the full quote to which they are referring to.
The evils of progressivism and eugenics, for all to see.
I get to determine who should be eliminated. My neighbors house looks good so I will eliminate him and then I can have his house.
My neighbors kid is ugly so, whack, problem solved
Like it or not, IQ is genetic.
Has the alleged gene been identified?
The leftwing was enamored by eugenics in those days, they had to close their trap with WW2 though
There is a correlation between genetics and IQ. That’s hardly a justification for forced sterlizations to outright mass slaughter.
No, it’s a whole bunch of genes, sort of like the situation with what makes some (very rare) acorns sweet.
The correlation is very strong. I agree with you that fact does not justify forced sterilizations or mass slaughter. But paying them to have more kids doesn’t seem especially productive either, even aside from the issue of such payments not being Constitutional at the federal level.
From the Declaration of Independence:
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed"
I don't see how human rights are graded on a bell curve, however.
I will ping this out later. Been ultra busy lately plus all the insane news.
Thank you for your research.
We essentially pay people to have kids now. How’s that working out?
All men might be equal in the eyes of God, but they are not all equals in any measurable quantity ranging from height, weight, reflectivity, strength, agility, intelligence, or anything else you could possibly measure. IQ being genetic tramples none of life, liberty, nor the pursuit of happiness. On the other hand paying welfare tramples the liberty of those who pay, and denies the need of pursuit for the recipients. I agree all must have equal human rights, but entitlements are not rights.
Was it not the eugenicist, Sanger who founded “planned parenthood”?
I seem to recall reading that.
How’s it working out? Depends on your point of view. Our “investments in the poor” have paid off handsomely - there are three or four times more poor people than when the transfer programs began in earnest. How many other investments have done as well? Naturally, I don’t think this is an improvement, but then again I’m one of the payers and not one of the recipients.
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Yeah, I should have put a [/s] after my comment. If you subsidize something, you get more of it. Basically, the “Payers” are having fewer kids and the “Takers” are having more. But, the “Takers” are almost all Democratic voters, so (from their perspective) its working out great.
Yes it was.
My neighbor lets her dog sit out unattended and bark incessantly.
She is a dumb airhead and should be removed from the gene pool.
Even if it is, some people can do a lot with a little, and vice versa!
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