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Quote of the Day: Empowering the Poor
“Creating a separate set of moral standards according to socio-economic status is not an act of mercy. It is a crime against the poor. It is an abdication of our social duty to hold one another accountable. It is shameful that our self-styled elites are so afraid to preach the very secrets to success they so readily practice in their own lives.” — Arthur C. Brooks, Conservative Heart: How to Build a Fairer, Happier, and More Prosperous America
It is a travesty that the Progressives, and some misguided on the Right, have conditioned those who are poor to believe their false doctrine. The poor learn from them that they are hostages of the culture, that they have little to no power to grow and improve themselves, that the white majority (substitute white supremacy) culture is determined to keep them down and impoverish them. I simply can’t reconcile the calls for compassion from the Left, with their arrogance about the ability of others to thrive in this great country. Their beliefs are so devastating to the soul.
I think Donald Trump, by helping to improve the economic conditions of the country and of so many minorities, has given them the opportunity to re-consider their situations and to strive to be part of not only this great recovering economy, but of the country that wants its people to succeed.
Published in Religion & Philosophy
I completely agree! The problem is that it’s not all or nothing. Some accountability for charter schools is important, but not complete control. People want complete control, and that is not necessary or helpful.
The accountability should be to the parents though. Who are accountable to their children.
The school should also be accountable to the business that will eventually hire their students as well. If they turn out idiots they should rightly be shunned.
I’m not convinced. When New Zealand dismantled the centralized school apparatus, replaced it with parents and teachers at each school, and let parents pick whatever school they wanted, New Zealand educational results went from the bottom of the Western Democracies to the top. Parents who care about education have to have real choice and as they get it schools change because failure leads to decay and disappearance. It was public schools in New Zealand but parents could act like consumers and teachers had to compete to make their schools the best around. Good teachers rose to the top, bad teachers were squeezed out, good schools became competitive and bad schools died. Charter schools, public schools don’t really offer much choice. Buying an expensive house in a neighborhood that has a good school, or picking a high priced private schools aren’t real choices for most people. Giant US can’t offer what tiny New Zealand offered but the direction is clear and at the center was parents choice.
Good point about the leftover grain. That was one of our scripture readings just last Sunday. I don’t think that bit about fish is found in the New Testament, though.
They may not be able to cure their idiocy, but they should at least educate them to do a job! ;-)
Here’s a fascinating article about the contested origins of the latter! Gosh, and I just wanted to give you guys credit!
@brianwolf has the flip side of this discussion in a post (currently in the Member Feed – if you’re not a member of Ricochet you’re missing some great discussions in the Member Feed) about funding the restoration of Notre Dame Cathedral that interestingly also quotes Arthur Brooks. His point is the other side of the accountability discussion here – government taking over “charity” functions diminishes the feeling of responsibility of those with wealth and power to consider the needs of others.
In my view, government taking over “charity” functions deprives both the potential donor and the potential recipient of the ability to learn what “loving our neighbor” is.
The Welfare State is a jealous god, punishing children for the sin of depending on their parents and punishing parents for the sin of providing for their children, to the third or fourth generation until they have lost all memory of how to care for each other.
This!
“The soft bigotry of low expectations.” – George W. Bush, way back in 1999