Why Government Can't Solve the Race Problem
Bracing stuff at The New Republic:
There is a school of thought in America which argues that the government must be the main force that provides help to the black community. This shibboleth is predicated upon another one: that such government efforts will make a serious difference in disparities between blacks and whites. Amy Wax not only argues that such efforts have failed, she also suggests that such efforts cannot bring equality, and therefore must be abandoned. [...]
Wax stipulates that the government should do all that it can to ensure equal opportunity, which includes providing decent education and enforcing civil rights laws. I would say that there is somewhat more that the government can do, given the historical circumstances. Programs to ease ex-cons back into society could do infinitely more for black inner-cities than suing car companies over small differences in loan deals. Those who think that Obama has no “black agenda” are unaware of how many black people attend the community colleges to which he has given extra (if insufficient) funding.
Still, at the end of day, as Wax puts it:
The government cannot make people watch less television, talk to their children, or read more books. It cannot ordain domestic order, harmony, tranquility, stability, or other conditions conducive to academic success and the development of sound character. Nor can it determine how families structure their interactions and routines or how family resources—including time and money—are expended. Large-scale programs are especially ineffective in changing attitudes and values toward learning, work, and marriage.
That line about reintegrating convicts into normal human society strikes me as absolutely crucial. And I'll have more to say about education, where the President is doing pretty well, later today. But let me also take the opportunity to emphasize again that, in fact, increasingly prevalent "attitudes and values" running against the kind of learning, work, and marriage reinforced in two-parent households at their best increase the felt need for exactly those kinds of large-scale programs. In the face of cultural decay, activist government becomes self-medicating -- a therapeutic effort on the part of embarrassed and depressed elites to prove to themselves that they're doing something. Will they be able to confront the truth about just how useless at best those efforts really are?
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Jul '10
Re: Why Government Can't Solve the Race Problem
The "war on drugs" has created a permanent, unemployable black underclass of ex-cons who have been imprisoned for minor drug offenses and now have no hope of decent employment.
Aug '10
Re: Why Government Can't Solve the Race Problem
James Poulos, Ed.:
Well, in one indirect way, it can: stop rewarding bad behavior, and eventually you'll get less of it.
Re: Why Government Can't Solve the Race Problem
I have seen this happen face to face, Kenneth, and it is not pretty. Of course, there are some entrepreneurial ways out from under this life-destroying burden, but that puts us right back in the cultural trap. And it's worth noting that the culture of dependency isn't just a problem for that black underclass. Also, it's reinforced by "the system," which has taken on the character of a not particularly black parent.
May '10
Re: Why Government Can't Solve the Race Problem
In my extremely mispent youth,I spent more time than I care to admit under the care and supervision of the criminal justice system. Let me assert the following: Most people in prison are there becuase they did many bad things over a considerable period of time. The idea of people going to the pen for a first time-drug offense is laughable. Press any such story just a little and you'll learn that the poor idiot claiming he's in the Big House for possession is actually there on a parole violation.
Jun '10
Re: Why Government Can't Solve the Race Problem
I'd make a few minor changes to your assertion: The "drug crisis" was created by the perniciously coddled and fatherless (the important distinction) ex-cons who have been imprisoned for gateway drug offenses and now have no interest in decent employment.
(Rampant street crime has everything to do with godless, irresponsible, and undisciplined culture, and nothing to do with race. Notice that the grandparents of most of these kids never spent a day in prison. What changed?)
Re: Why Government Can't Solve the Race Problem
I agree with Kenneth, and note that Drug Courts are awesome. Take funding away from jails and put it into Drug Courts (they are a fraction of the costs of jails anyway, so we'd save a fortune).
May '10
Re: Why Government Can't Solve the Race Problem
This logic reminds me of Nancy Pelosi's claim that preventive care would save money because it would make people less obese.
Jun '10
Re: Why Government Can't Solve the Race Problem
People typically get arrested for their 200th drug sale--not their first, and the vast majority of those who actually end up in prison were soulless punks before they ever got there. Crime rates (including burglary and armed robbery) go way down when prisons are full. Funny how that happens.
Re: Why Government Can't Solve the Race Problem
Anyone who has ever been drunk has no moral authority to criticize anyone who has been high.
Jul '10
Re: Why Government Can't Solve the Race Problem
I have to agree with Mesquito, the majority of those in the criminal justice system earned their way there. As a teacher with 40 years in special education classes for behaviorally disabled kids I have a pretty clear understanding about those kids who are simply the product of poor or absent parenting and those we call Conduct Disordered who are the real criminal class. The term is not totally synonymous with sociopath, but it is pretty close. If they are involved with drugs it is because they find it an easy way to get what they want. I would agree that the War on Drugs is contributory, but only in making drugs a commodity that these individuals can profit from. Attempting to legislate morality made a lot of gangsters rich during prohibition. The drug war does the same. While teaching in a juvenile detention I was told by a student honestly that he could match my annual salary in a week selling drugs. If he didn't have drugs to sell he would find something equally profitable and illegal. That was his nature.
Jun '10
Re: Why Government Can't Solve the Race Problem
By your standard, that means I do have the moral authority to criticize potheads. But I'd do it in any case. No, I've never been drunk. If I drank the complete inventory of alcoholic beverages that I've consumed in my entire life, in one sitting, I probably couldn't even get a buzz. I'm not a Mormon, but I live like one.
Re: Why Government Can't Solve the Race Problem
James,
Glad you highlighted this piece. The most intriguing line, to me:
"If you finish high school and keep a job without having children before marriage, you will almost certainly not be poor. Period."
Re: Why Government Can't Solve the Race Problem
Powerful stuff, Eugene. I wonder, though, if the profitable and illegal alternatives to selling drugs aren't in fact considerably more difficult to successfully get involved with. Running illegal arms? Stolen cars? Pimping? These criminal enterprises seem a bit more demanding and higher-risk, don't they? And more likely to make you some dangerous enemies?
May '10
Re: Why Government Can't Solve the Race Problem
Whereas government can't solve the race problem, it can sure do a lot to keep it going. More accurately, it can take a poverty problem and make everyone think its a race problem.
As long as our government cannot interact with citizens without classifying them by race, there will always be some sort of "race problem" because there is always some sort of problem, and the first thing that comes to mind is race. Since that's the way we see people, then that's the way we'll see their troubles.
Jul '10
Re: Why Government Can't Solve the Race Problem
To the people in power at the moment, the only real race problem is the white race problem. To which they have a simple solution - open borders.