I think we have to approach it another way. We have to work on reducing the socialist aspect of our government. Once we do that, everything else will work itself out.
While blacks are hurt worse than any other group by welfare, that argument just doesn't hit home with them.
As far as rap lyrics, I personally think that is a losing battle. First of all, it makes us look like old fogies. Its common practice for the older generation to hate the younger generation's music - Elvis and the Beatles come to mind. Remember how everyone thought that the Beatles and KISS were satanic and that Elvis was too sexual? Tim McGraw's song "Things Change" does a pretty good job on this topic.
Secondly, conservatives really don't have a good relationship with blacks at the present time. We need to better that relationship first before we start talking about their music.
This also sounds a lot like "morality police" to a lot of people and it turns them off. This alienates blacks and younger voters that see conservatives as busy bodies worrying about trivial lyrics rather than focusing on big issues. I doubt that most think that rap music lyrics is a driving force in behavior among blacks.
There just doesn't seem to be a lot of bang for the buck when it comes to trying to address the black urban social environment. Blacks just don't trust us enough to do it and the conservatives that do want to do it come across as a bull in a china shop.
If we could just reform the welfare system without even mentioning race, fatherless households or black on black crime, everything would pretty much take care of itself.
I couldn't agree more with your thoughts. I've been writing to my local paper over the last couple of years regarding our local obsession with hate crimes. I think most on this board would agree that the race of the perpetrator should play no role in the consequences of the actions. So why would we make it an issue ourselves?
>>If we could just reform the welfare system without even mentioning race, fatherless households or black on black crime, everything would pretty much take care of itself.<<
Hmmm. I don't know...
Black illegitimacy was lowest when societal/white racism and Jim Crow was at its WORST. It's almost as if the black family unit held together as a defense-mechanism, and NOT as a social/cultural norm. Black illegitimacy and black crime are astronomical across the entire globe, not just in the US. I don't know that welfare reform alone can communicate THE MESSAGE that mysteriously goes unspoken in the black community, "Illegitimacy IS irresponsible, immoral, self-destructive behavior that ensures the perpetuation of high crime, high poverty, and more illegitimacy".
I agree that debating rap lyrics is a waste of time, I did not mean to suggest otherwise, I was only asserting that boys without fatherly discipline look to rappers and rap lyrics as their behavioral model.