Posted on 01/16/2014 5:57:35 AM PST by Hojczyk
What we see here is a perfect example of civil rights actions being applied to a poverty program. Those strategies were appropriate in fighting discrimination, since it was a government-initiated and sanctioned policy. But poverty is not. And the application of the tactics sunk any hope of quality programs emerging from the War on Poverty.
The applied tactics of civil disobedience has mau-maued the local authorities into diverting trillions of dollars over the years to incompetent deliverers. The poverty program was upended by the perfect storm of D.C. policy planners wanting maximum feasible participation and eager civil-rights activists lying in wait for the avalanche of dollars.
To see how both of these undermined the war, just look at Head Start, which put the responsibility of educating in the hands of community groups unprepared for this while circumventing the traditional public educational systems. While there may have been some arguments for this, particularly in the South, the effect was to grow a program which even now the government admits the students lose most gains after the first year. We cannot sit here in the 50th year of the War on Poverty and deny it failed to do the one thing that would have made it a success -- get people working. Our job as a country is to now get the poor into jobs. Let’s stop bailing out poverty.
(Excerpt) Read more at realclearpolitics.com ...
All these trillions are spent “buying time” for the politicians & bureaucrats.
They may call it compassion, “for the children”, “investment” or whatever BS they think will sell.
I’m gonna spend YOUR money on MY good deed.
Trust me, no sacrifice (for you) is too great!
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