The Menace of the Great Society....

 

 

 

"Rather than fixing poverty, the LBJ War on Poverty created a much worse generational poverty which still plagues us today..."

Today in the paper was another story about the pervasive poverty which exists in our area. Today's chapter dealt with the paucity of affordable housing for impoverished people. It is a huge problem right now, as the vacancy rate in Minneapolis is very low - about 3%. That puts the old "supply and demand" principle back to work. Landlords can be very tight with rent charged and very picky on whom they rent to. Section 8 poor people usually don't come our too well in this type of situation.

The Great Society which came out of the 1960's, started the nation down the road to generational poverty. It was actually in the State of the Union address in 1964, that President Johnson declared a "unconditional war on poverty in America". With that proclamation, came zillions of dollars to be thrown at the problem. How much is a zillion? In the past 50 years, we have spent $22T on anti-poverty programs (Heritage Foundation). And what did that $22T buy us? Nada. Zip. Nothing. Except more poverty.
 
I am not hard hearted towards the poor. On the contrary, I want to help them. However, we need a new fix. First off, we need to unconditionally surrender our War on Poverty. Whatever we are doing, and have done for the past 50 years, is not working. At all. We have made it all too easy and acceptable to have children out of wedlock. Many times for the poor, having a child out of wedlock is a doorway to more government dependence and to stay in locked in poverty. It is possible for a poor person who has a child (or children) out of wedlock to make it out of poverty - but it is an uphill battle and the odds are not in their favor.

So much has changed in the past 50 years. 50 years ago, our country had recently come out of World War II and the Korean conflict. We were involved in Viet Nam. That being said, the Greatest Generation, who fought and won World War II, set the table nicely for the following generation (us). Many of us Baby Boomers were taught at a young age how to care for ourselves, as well as having compassion for the less fortunate. Somewhere along the path, Baby Boomers got things a bit mixed up. A "hand up" to those less fortunate became a perpetual "hand out". And that is where the train left the tracks.

My vision of America is to see very few poor people. I would like to say zero poor people, but that is not possible. Even the Bible tells us so. However, the number of poor people who have come from generations of poor families is absolutely unacceptable. These people are part of our family, part of our national fabric. They deserve so much better. They deserve to have this generational curse broken for once and for all.

I have said this before. Many of our national and state leaders today suffer from a terminal lack of understanding and vision. To allow poverty of this magnitude to escalate for the past 50 years while wasting $22T to make it worse, is beyond the pale. It borders on being criminal. We should be ashamed. As a nation, as a state, as a community, we can, and should, do so much better.