Answer these questions:
1. Which will help a poor family more:
a. Finding the father or mother a new job in a growing industry; or
b. Giving the family some payment each month that will pay for about 20% of their food costs?
2. Which will help a graduating high school senior get out of poverty?
a. Making sure that the high school education received by that senior trained him or her to read, do arithmetic, and otherwise function so that he or she will be able to hold a job; or
b. Focusing the high school education received by that senior so that his or her self-esteem is enhanced?
3. Which will help a poor neighborhood more:
a. Growing the economy so that the folks in that neighborhood are able to get good jobs and improve their living conditions with the extra income; or
b. Finding public housing for the poor so that they live in large projects with poor security, high crime, and living conditions that are marginal at best?
These are not just random questions. Your answer to these three questions tells a lot about your political leanings. In each case, the conservative answer is "a" and the liberal answer is "b". Oh, there will undoubtedly be those who want to shade the answers, but there is still no question which answer falls within which political philosophy.
I write about these questions because the left wing Democrat base is our with a new charge against the GOP. This time the claim is that the Republican party is holding what Paul Krugman calls "a war on the poor". To be fair, we need to consider the source. Krugman won a Nobel Prize in economics for his work regarding international trade. Instead of sticking to what he knows, however, Krugman has stuck his nose into all sorts of other political/economic issues and has made a total fool of himself in the process. Nevertheless, the gravity of a charge that there is a war on the poor necessitates a prompt response. The truth is that it is exactly wrong. There is an actual war on the poor, but that war is being waged by the Democrats. The goal of the left is to keep the poor from escaping their poverty. The Democrats want to give the poor some marginal help which is designed to make certain that their grinding poverty continues. The Democrats want the votes of these people; they really do not care if they help them much.
1. Which will help a poor family more:
a. Finding the father or mother a new job in a growing industry; or
b. Giving the family some payment each month that will pay for about 20% of their food costs?
2. Which will help a graduating high school senior get out of poverty?
a. Making sure that the high school education received by that senior trained him or her to read, do arithmetic, and otherwise function so that he or she will be able to hold a job; or
b. Focusing the high school education received by that senior so that his or her self-esteem is enhanced?
3. Which will help a poor neighborhood more:
a. Growing the economy so that the folks in that neighborhood are able to get good jobs and improve their living conditions with the extra income; or
b. Finding public housing for the poor so that they live in large projects with poor security, high crime, and living conditions that are marginal at best?
These are not just random questions. Your answer to these three questions tells a lot about your political leanings. In each case, the conservative answer is "a" and the liberal answer is "b". Oh, there will undoubtedly be those who want to shade the answers, but there is still no question which answer falls within which political philosophy.
I write about these questions because the left wing Democrat base is our with a new charge against the GOP. This time the claim is that the Republican party is holding what Paul Krugman calls "a war on the poor". To be fair, we need to consider the source. Krugman won a Nobel Prize in economics for his work regarding international trade. Instead of sticking to what he knows, however, Krugman has stuck his nose into all sorts of other political/economic issues and has made a total fool of himself in the process. Nevertheless, the gravity of a charge that there is a war on the poor necessitates a prompt response. The truth is that it is exactly wrong. There is an actual war on the poor, but that war is being waged by the Democrats. The goal of the left is to keep the poor from escaping their poverty. The Democrats want to give the poor some marginal help which is designed to make certain that their grinding poverty continues. The Democrats want the votes of these people; they really do not care if they help them much.
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