Posted on 09/20/2005 10:43:50 AM PDT by Tolik
Some conservatives are concerned with President Bush's New Orleans speech because of the unlimited federal spending it seemed to promise, but I was far more concerned with his arguable vindication of the wrongheaded notion that racial discrimination is responsible for the disproportionate impact of the flooding on blacks.
After all, opening up the federal coffers for a disaster is far less objectionable than so many of the projects presently funded by the government. And, the president is using this as an opportunity to launch market-based ideas, including enterprise zones and private ownership, rather than giveaways with no accountability. Plus, we can always fantasize that the monies expended toward rebuilding the damaged areas might lead to more scrutiny and the eventual scaling back of federal pork and other largesse across the board -- like the prescription drug plan.
But I don't see any silver lining in the president's seeming adoption of the Jesse Jackson school of thought concerning Katrina's racist component. The president said: "As all of us saw on television, there is also some deep, persistent poverty in this region as well. And that poverty has roots in a history of racial discrimination, which cut off generations from the opportunity of America. We have a duty to confront this poverty with bold action."
I was more than a little disappointed when I heard him utter these words. I thought to myself, "President Bush is so unwilling to give quarter on other issues, such as his commitment to the war in Iraq and preserving his income tax cuts. Why is he so malleable on the subject of race?"
You will recall that the president railed against affirmative action during the presidential campaign all the way up to the Supreme Court's Grutter case, in which his team filed a brief in support of race-based preferences in a law school admissions policy.
Perhaps he's just not as convinced as he earlier appeared to be about the destructiveness of "remedial" racial preferences or has had a change of heart on the subject. Or, concerning his New Orleans speech, maybe he didn't mean to imply that this "history of racial discrimination" was recent -- within the last generation or so. Surely most would agree the government has taken bold steps to end state-sponsored discrimination.
Either way, his injection of race into the speech is troubling if for no other reason than it gives ammunition and a degree of legitimacy to the race-hustlers' unconscionable ploy to blame delays or inadequacies in the federal response on the administration's alleged racial prejudice against blacks.
I'm not talking about the political downside to Republicans in the president's remarks, but the way others will use those remarks to further divide and alienate the races against each other.
After close to $7 trillion has been spent on the war on poverty, how can anyone seriously argue that liberal solutions have any remote prospect of eradicating poverty or its often-disproportionate effects on blacks?
Isn't it time we consider other possible contributing causes, such as cultural ones? It's hardly an original idea that illegitimacy leads to poverty, and there are very high rates of illegitimacy among blacks in New Orleans. Is that because of too little federal attention or money dedicated to programs designed to lift up the poor? Or too much?
As long as liberals own the vocabulary of compassion in this country, I suppose many are too afraid of being branded racist for saying that simply throwing money at poverty is not going to make a dint in it. Even less likely are they to say that other factors may be contributing to black poverty as well -- including the perpetuation of the sinister and patronizing idea that blacks simply can't lift themselves up without the white man's largesse.
I happen to believe that promoting permanent victimhood and dependency is what is racist, not according all races equal respect and dignity. It is difficult to quantify the cumulative destructive impact of all the reckless, knee-jerk charges of white racism leveled by race-exploiters of both races who have something to gain by their accusations and by fanning the flames of racial tensions. When sanctimonious white guys in positions of authority, like Ted Kennedy, jump on this infernal bandwagon, it can't help but reinforce fears in blacks of white racism.
I am disappointed that President Bush's words could be construed as an admission that racism played a role either in the federal response or in current federal law or policy. But I am encouraged that his policy proposals cut the other way -- toward helping the poor lift themselves up through entrepreneurial and investment opportunities.
David Limbaugh is a syndicated columnist who blogs at DavidLimbaugh.com.
Plus, we can always fantasize that the monies expended toward rebuilding the damaged areas might lead to more scrutiny and the eventual scaling back of federal pork and other largesse across the board -- like the prescription drug plan.
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Well stated Mr. Limbaugh.
Common sense - how refreshing.
I happen to believe that promoting permanent victimhood and dependency is what is racist
Agree
Ping. Perhaps a good one for your ping list?
Job retraining programs needed for the race baiting poverty pimps?
Bush has consistantly listed Human Trafficking as part of the War On Terror.
New Orleans is a BIG offender to human trafficking. Human Trafficking consists of immigrants as well as American Nationals.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-backroom/1472612/posts
Several posts in that thread outlining the problems with New Orleans and the trafficking industry.
These people made up a large percentage of the victims of poverty.
WOW!! Six responses already and no one has jumped in to say that it is just part of Bush's super-secret strategy to co-opt some of the Democratic demographic.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1487300/posts
The Wild and Free Pigs of the Okefenokee Swamp
;)
The naysayers will probably arrive at any moment so perhaps we could contribute some positive comments (over and over in the hope they can see the sense of it all).
You just never stop, do you?
If you want a Google GMail account, FReepmail me.
They're going fast!
Bush Offering a Hand Up, Not Handouts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1487340/posts
go to post #9 to see an INCREDIBLE video/music of Katrina!
I didn't see the President's speech, and I have been very disappointed in the past with his willingness to spend money like a drunken liberal.
But I don't see anything in this quote that I disagree with. When my grandfather was earning money to help my father get an education, a southern black child's grandfather was earning money for a sharecropper. That disparity has lead to a difference in income that many blacks are overcoming, but others have not. Such deep-seated poverty hurts us all and should be confronted.
It's not whether it should be confronted, but how, that is the sticking point. I will be interested in seeing the President's how. If it is to do more things like force vouchers down the NEA-supported Liberal throats of our Left Wing, then that will be a good way to confront this poverty. With everything torn down, the President is in an outstanding position to use the liberals' own rhetoric to rebuild conservative solutions where the liberal ones have failed.
I can see ole Teddy now, chearing those words then wondering what hit him. I hope and pray it will happen that way.
Shalom.
I believe it. Democrats are racist.
That's the essence of it. Race hustlers are the racists responsible for endemic poverty among blacks. Bush got it right, he just didn't clarify who the racists were!
Things I have learned from watching the news on TV during the last eight days:
The hurricane only hit black family's property
New Orleans was devastated and no other city was affected by the hurricane
Mississippi is reported to have a tree blown down
New Orleans has no white people
The hurricane blew a limb off a tree in the yard of an Alabama resident
When you are hungry after a hurricane steal a big screen TV
The hurricane did 23 billion dollars in improvements to New Orleans: now that city is welfare free, looters free and gang free. All of them are in your city now.
White people don't make good news stories
Don't give thanks to the thousands that came to help rescue you, instead bitch because the government hasn't given you a debit card yet
Only black family members got separated in the hurricane rescue efforts
Ignore warnings to evacuate and the government will come get you and give you money for being stupid
Damn, I feel so sorry for all those poor folks.
The only way it could have been worse was to be in Alabama, Mississippi or Florida and be completely ignored.
My sentiments exactly. I'm disappointed as well. The welfare state in which the Democrats played an important role is the cause of poverty and unemployment in Louisiana, not racism.
Actually, the hurricane was classist. It hit the rich far harder than it hit the poor.
This statement is based on the logic used to claim that President Bush's tax cuts favored the rich. That claim was based on the fact that the rich got bigger cuts in dollars, regardless of what percentage of their total wealth is taxed. Therefore, since the properties of the rich were much more valuable than the properties of the poor, the rich were hit much harder. It doesn't matter at all what additional wealth anyone had, just what was lost in the hurricane.
Shalom.
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