Posted on 03/12/2009 4:52:15 AM PDT by IbJensen
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, 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, passed by a Republican Congress and signed 50 percent.
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 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.
Certainly not the Republicrats who feverishly seek bi-partisanship (surrender) for the sake of getting along in order to garner more earmarks.
She’s right. The sad thing is that so few people seem to recognize the implications of the US becoming a socialist country - massive failure and loss of freedom.
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After 45 years of “the War on 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.”
Can we agree “This war is lost?”
Run for office, Star.
The thing is, we can’t lay all of this at the feet of “The One”. Amazingly, we were on the road to welfare reform during Clinton’s years. Then we have Bush, the “Compassionate Conservative” who starts signing up all of the charities to be on the plantation. We should expect the socialist party to want more of Uncle Sam’s plantation. Who we should really be mad at are the ones that are supposed to be on our side. Judging by how the first two months of “The One’s” presidency has gone, I’m not sure “our side” has gotten it yet. I hope we never see the term “Compassionate Conservative” again!!
I've been saying that one of the objectives of That One would be to round up all us "freeman" former slaves and get us back on the plantation, along with the new captives but I never made the Lincoln connection until reading this. Very sharp, Ms. Parker!
The implication is desolation for the whole world as the only effective support for human prosperity i.e. freemarket capitalism is transformed into a socialist enterprise. The whole world must sink into poverty and despotism.
It’s amazing how many of these programs started off with good intentions and are complete failures that have been institutionalized in our government. I don’t remember who said it, but the quote “There’s no such thing as a temporary government program†is really appropriate. No matter how bad the program is, no one wants to be the one who abolishes it.
This might be useful:
Clinton only went along with welfare reform because we had an aggressive Republican Congress that pushed through the reform and it was obvious that there was massive public support for the idea. Bill liked to be popular, politics be damned.
Bush didn’t really do that much to what we think of as welfare, and the entitlement programs he expanded were mostly things like the prescription drug program, etc. What Bambi is doing has completely reversed the policy direction of some 20+ years and brought us right back to the “Great Society” at its worst.
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Didn't look at prices. I was more interested in providing access to the reader reviews. Sounds like someone doesn't want this to sell. I wonder who sets the price.
It doesn’t matter to me why Clinton did what he did. I realize that it was Newt’s Congress that forced him into a lot of things. However, he signed the welfare reforms in 1996 and we have to give credit where credits due. Meanwhile the one who is supposed to have been our guy (Bush) not only created the new perscription drug entitlement, he also created more charties depending on the government trough/plantation with his compassionate conservatism.
Right now Obama is veering to the left and there are some in our party that are helping him. The RINOs helped him get the porkulous and budget passed and now there are idiots that are for the card check. I don’t care what party they are from. If they are for big government they are not on my side!!
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