A Poverty of Thought (George Will)

Washington Post ^ | September 13, 2005 | George Will

[Clint N. Suhks]

Because it was released during the post-Katrina debacle, scant attention was paid to the National Center for Health Statistics' report that in 2003, 34.6 percent of all American births were to unmarried women. The percentage among African American women was 68.2.

Given that most African Americans are middle class and almost half live outside central cities, and that 76 percent of all births to Louisiana African Americans were to unmarried women, it is a safe surmise that more than 80 percent of African American births in inner-city New Orleans -- as in some other inner cities -- were to women without husbands. That translates into a large and constantly renewed cohort of lightly parented adolescent males, and that translates into chaos in neighborhoods and schools, come rain or come shine.

[tom h]

"What is blunt, yet sharper than a razor? "

1) A pen in the hand of someone as sharp as George Will.

2) The Bible -- not only is it sharp, but it is dangerous -- a double-bladed sword of truth.

[eggman]

It takes a corrupt village (or a big city like NO) to raise a generation of welfare dependent children who know nothing about how to survive without government assistance.

There is a hurricane coming. You are below sea level and surrounded by water. What do you do?

If you are a poor person who has been conditioned by years of government parenting, you do nothing to save yourself, you wait for the government to save you.

The city government neglected the poor because they were too busy saving themselves. The state was little help because they were more concerned with covering up for their incompetence. The federal government has jumped in with both feet and fists full of taxpayer money. Who will the poor expect to save them next time?

[G.Mason]

The words "lightly parented" are like saying New Orleans was lightly flooded.

[Snapping Turtle]

Ping!

[apackof2]

They founded this country under strong Judeo-Christian tenets and reflected on their religious beliefs on all their decisions.

Worth repeating

[driftless]

You got it. While everybody else is blaming Bush or the La people, only a few thoughtful types are casting blame on the people most adversely affected by Katrina: the residents of NO on public assistance. Only Will and Boortz and thrown stones at the welfare clients of the Big Easy. And I applaud them for it.

Let me just say that every effort should have been made to evacuate those people before the storm hit, and then fast relief should have been applied after the town flooded. But these people, apart from the sick and the elderly, are responsible for their predicament for relying on big government to always get them out of jams. Most! of the black residents of NO made it out before the flood. No one was stopping the people left behind from evacuating. Except for their ingrained belief that BG would always be there to save them.

[pgkdan]

Given that most African Americans are middle class and almost half live outside central cities, and that 76 percent of all births to Louisiana African Americans were to unmarried women, it is a safe surmise that more than 80 percent of African American births in inner-city New Orleans -- as in some other inner cities -- were to women without husbands

I complain about the Nanny State mentality that 'Rats seem to have but the real problem isn't that they see the role of gov't as our Nanny...they want gov't to be their daddy. Daddy brings home the check every month and pays what bills ever get paid. It's disgusting.

[oyez]

The welfare check will stop if their is a man living in the house.

[pgkdan]

Except for their ingrained belief that BG would always be there to save them.

And it's there with wads of cash this time. I heard Rod Paige say on John Gibson's show last week that every adult living in public housing in NO is now going to receive $26,000 in rent 'assistance' and his dept is going to help 'every one of those poor displaced' people build a house! He mentioned an 'unfair' clause in the law he's working with that disqualifies public housing residents from using Federal funds to rebuild their home after a disaster ( why should the gov't 'rebuild a home for somebody who never owned a home in the first place? And why in the hell is the gov't in the business of building people houses anyway!?!?!). He bragged that he just unilaterally told his personnel to disregard that stupid law and get those peopel in houses.

Why should anyone ever pay for insurance if the government is willing to rebuild our homes in the face of a natural disaster?

[Fog Nozzle]

...more than 80 percent of African American births in inner-city New Orleans -- as in some other inner cities -- were to women without husbands.

I would also estimate that most of the children of these women had different fathers.

[ChadGore]

George Will is always an amazing read.

[Mack the knife]

....Nowhere have I found anything along the lines of "Go out and institute huge bureaucracies that will take money from some people at the point of a sword and give that money to other people as a politician sees fit."

---

Haven't you heard? The new Revised Liberal Bible doesn't have the Good Samaritan use his OWN money to help out the robbery victim he found by the side of the road; instead, he went back to the road and used his sword to "tax" the subsequent travelers to pay for the victim's care. He made a nice profit, too.

(/sarcasm)

[litehaus]

"Apparently I'm rapidly becoming an old fuddy duddy"....My kids bestowed THAT degree on me lonnnnggg ago.

[NCSteve]

George Will home run. Great article, thanks for posting it.

[inquest]

"czar" or "czarina"? "nation-builders" in Iraq?

I thought you were objecting to the term "lightly parented".

Perhaps it is my imagination, but Mr. Will seems to want to take his bat and ball and go home.

In regards to what? New Orleans? Perhaps he does think the federal government ought to do just that, and if so, I agree with him. I don't have a problem with the federal government expending resources to save lives in immediate danger, but it's not the feds' job to take care of people long-term, or to rebuild New Orleans.

If you mean in regard to Iraq, because he uses the term "nation-builders", I don't think it necessarily means he wants us to leave. It could simply mean that he might prefer that we focus more on killing terrorists than on building an Iranian-friendly regime there.

[JohnnyZ]

"czar" or "czarina"? "nation-builders" in Iraq?

The ultimate futility of central planning in a complex, dynamic world.

It has its limits at least.

[G.Mason]

" It has its limits at least."

Agreed.

[keats5]

"lightly parented adolescent males"

I love this phrase.

I have one young daughter, and two strapping teenage boys. I'm a diligent mom. I set clear rules and follow through with consistent consequences.

Yet, I NEED my husband to keep the boys in line. He speaks their language, and shows them how a good, strong, Godly man behaves. To my sons, their dad utterly lovable, yet fearsome. I think my sons are on the right track primarily because they simply want to grow to be like their dad.

[jordan8]

A poverty of thought and George Will, there are two things that go together. The real question is how did New Orleans get to be majority black? How did Detroit? Those are questions you'll never hear PC collaborators like George Will seriously discuss in public.

[keats5]

Huh? George Will is not a "PC collaborator", and thinks better than most so called intellectuals.