[Cincinatus' Wife]

From Opportunity to Entitlement - The Transformation and Decline of Great Society Liberalism/Gareth Davies ***The purpose of the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 is to offer opportunity, not an opiate. . . . We are not content to accept the endless growth of relief rolls or welfare rolls."--President Lyndon B. Johnson

"I would just provide that every person in this country is given a certain minimum income. If he wants to work in addition to that, he keeps what he earns."--Senator George S. McGovern

Between LBJ's statement in 1964 and McGovern's in 1972, American liberals radically transformed their welfare philosophy from one founded on opportunity and hard work to one advocating automatic entitlements. Gareth Davies' book shows us just how far-reaching that transformation was and how much it has to teach anyone engaged in the latest round of debates over welfare reform in America.

When Lyndon Johnson declared a "War on Poverty," he took great care to align his ambitious program with national attitudes toward work, worthiness, and dependency. Eight years later, however, American liberals were dominated by those who believed that all citizens enjoyed an unqualified right to income support with no strings or obligations attached. That shift, Davies argues, was part of a broader transformation in political values that had devastating consequences for the Democratic Party in particular and for the cause of liberalism generally.***

[doosee]

Forty-three percent of African-American families are headed by single women, 48 percent by married couples. By comparison, 13 percent of white families are headed by women, 82 percent by married couples.

This is the telling statistic. In spite of the incredibly high black abortion rate, there are a lot of young teens getting knocked up by black men. Part of it comes from decades of calling them b--ches and hoes, part of it comes from a complete disconnect from any religious values, and the economic component came from the Great Society, where Uncle Sam promised to be the breadwinner for the welfare orphans. Tragic for blacks and the whole nation.

[TheGeezer]

Astonishing and ironic, isn't it, that the members of our society most vulnerable to economic deprivation and all its consequences are those who suffered hateful discrimination for so long: black people. Now it is they who are targeted for destruction by white (and black) liberals, whose political and economic fortunes rest heavily upon instituionalized racial discord. The civil rights industry is too rich to abandon. Liberals' lies of propaganda breed solutions without problems, and unintended consequences destroy what is supposed to be saved.

And so it goes.