Had to respond..

"The trouble with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money."

What a provocative line! If we ever want to enrage the base, tell them what that other guy is going to do with their money, but, never mind telling them or shall I say remind them of what they've done with the stewardship of "love thy neighbor as thyself." The "thyself" attitude is more of the reason we're in this predicament than anything. We have a great problem with dependency in this nation and there's no doubt about it, people have become accustom to having their needs met through the promises of the politicians. Yet in still, I believe there's a bigger problem which doesn't lie at the base of peoples expectation of government to fulfill their needs, it's the expectation of living with needs that could never be fulfilled. With that said, let me try to get back on track. Allow me to borrow some lines from above;


1) "A vast sea of perhaps well-intentioned government programs, all initially set into motion in the 1960s by Democrats, that were going to lift the nation's poor out of poverty."

Is there the possibility that what these "perhaps well-intended Democrats" were move by was the poverty not the program as some believe our President is doing today.

2) "A benevolent Uncle Sam welcomed mostly poor black Americans onto the government plantation. Those who accepted the invitation switched mindsets from "How do I take care of myself?" to "What do I have to do to stay on the plantation?"

I guess my take on this line is; " If you don't want to be seen as " poor black America" you'll stay away from bailouts.

3) "Instead of solving economic problems, government welfare socialism created monstrous moral and spiritual problems -- the kind of problems that are inevitable when individuals turn responsibility for their lives over to others."

Enough said.

4) "The legacy of American socialism is our blighted inner cities, dysfunctional inner city schools, and broken black families.
Through God's grace, I found my way out. It was then that I understood what freedom meant and how great this country is."

There is no arguing these points. Well maybe just one; has socialism broken only the black families? And is this all we should be afraid of, Corporate America turning into a replica of a broken black family? I may be missing the point she's trying to make.


5) "I had the privilege of working on welfare reform in 1996 which was passed by a Republican controlled Congress.
I thought we were on the road to moving socialism out of our poor black communities and replacing it with wealth-producing American capitalism."

There an old saying that goes something like this; " It makes no sense to tell someone to pull yourself up by your boot straps if he has no boots"

Last comment:


6) "But, incredibly, we are now going in the opposite direction. Instead of poor America on socialism becoming more like rich American on capitalism, rich America on capitalism is becoming like poor America on socialism. Uncle Sam has welcomed our banks onto the plantation and they have said, "Thank you, Suh." Now, instead of thinking about what creative things need to be done to serve customers, they are thinking about what they have to tell Massah in order to get their cash. There is some kind of irony that this is all happening under our first black president on the 200th anniversary of the birthday of Abraham Lincoln.
Worse, socialism seems to be the element of our new young president. And maybe even more troubling, our corporate executives seem happy to move onto the plantation."

It "may" only be more troubling. Understatement of the year! She's drawing a picture of America that she hopes and maybe believes will scare Corporate America straight, the only problem is, she's drawing a picture of me. I'm the one, the big black demon that you don't want to grow into. I have sat at the table of shiftless-ness and unaccountability and in that part she is right. But, as she has also mentioned someone has set that table and supplied the meal in which I and many other " broken, black families" have partaken. To call me a demon a one thing, to demonize me is something else. What do I think about her article? Her conclusion, logical. Her metaphor, dangerously pathetic.

Footnote;

I thought our first black President was Bill Clinton?