MTP is discussing the absence of fathers in today’s black families.
No one yet has talked about how this happened. Oh, here we go...it’s women’s liberation and the absence of a stigma on having children out of wedlock.
Will anyone mention welfare?
The saddest statistic I find this side of the pond and is probably true in the States as well the number of young kids having babies at 15, 16, 17 etc just so they get social security payments and a flat (apartment) When the Tories a few years ago suggested if elected that they would stop these entitlements in an effort to stop teenage pregnancies they were called mean, out of touch and trying to enforce outdated moral standards. Sound familiar?
What is actually needed here IMHO is and although I do not like the idea of my money spent on it it is better than just hand outs is to try to get to the root of the problem which is the breakdown of family life.
At present in Britain it seems that Labour has no new ideas and immediately the Tories suggest something that could work they adopt it. We have seen this twice in the last week. Once with inheritance tax the government now looks as if it is going with the Tories proposal on a higher threshold and also taxing non domiciles which is something that has to be addressed as it costing the treasury millions. The latest one is that they are looking at rewarding tax breaks for married couples something they took away and the Tories want to re-introduce in order to promote marriage. The Labour Party made tax credit available for those with children which you have to apply for but includes non married couples but took away tax relief if you were married with no children something that traditionally we have always had.
Say what you will about Daniel Patrick Moynihan (as liberal and partisan a Democrat as ever lived), the man did make the intellectual leap that pointed out the destructive affects of welfare on black families to the world. There's an excellent piece in NRO from 2003 laying this out. It was written shortly after his death.
I was really disgusted that it was his seat in the Senate that Hillary got handed to her. He was a partisan, as I say, but a largely intellectually honest one. I voted for him when I lived in New York. She represents the exact opposite of his intellectual honesty, while displaying blatant partisanship and naked lust for power at any cost.