Two Americas

Why did it take until 100 years after the Civil War, until 1964, to pass a Civil Rights Act? Because the Democratic Party would not take its boot off the neck of the black man until Martin Luther King made the black vote a political force. Dedicated to being in power above all else, the Democrats had to make a U-turn on their race policy in the 1960s and join the Republicans in passing the Civil Rights Act because they realized that after the black vote was counted, they were not going to win any more national elections without it. But there was a problem. How was the Democratic Party going to overcome its deplorable record on race? It was the party of slavery, segregation, lynching, and the Klan.

What to do now? Get back in front of history with comprehensive rather than palliative welfare -- the Great Society. The Democratic Party would become the friend of the black community by giving it things it wasn’t asking for, but were hard to resist. But there is a big problem with comprehensive welfare: it destroys the role of men in the community and this was disproportionately true of the black community. There is nothing worse than taking away a person’s mission in life, making that person unnecessary and thus unwanted. That is evil. And today we see the results of that evil. Single mothers can cope, but the family as a force in the community cannot flourish without men as a responsible presence. Without men, there is nobody to show boys how to behave, have someone to look up to and emulate, to set them straight when they go off the path, to show them how to be men. This has been true of every civilization in history. But over the last 50 years, the Democratic Party wiped out the black family by wiping out the role of black men in order to stay in power. The black family had withstood 250 years of slavery and 100 years of Jim Crow, but was destroyed by 50 years of Liberalism. In 1960, the illegitimacy rate in the black community was 30%. Now it is 78%. And as Star Parker has pointed out, there is nothing unique about blacks. Whites are now where blacks were in 1960 and are on the same path. What is the result of this devastation? There are now two Americas -- Welfare America and Enterprise America. The Democratic Party is the party of Welfare America and the Republican Party is the part of Enterprise America. Enterprise America is that part of America that is hands-on in its affairs. That does not mean the top managers of big business, which either out of necessity or out of temperament, in many cases cozy up to Big Government. There is also the billionaire effect, where billionaires, unaware of the wellspring of their own success, do not preach what they practice and support Welfare America for reasons of social standing. Let’s compare the cultural attributes of Enterprise America and Welfare America. Enterprise America Welfare America Republican Party Democratic Party Stay in school School unimportant – drop out Get by contributing Get by demanding Selling: identifying customer needs, making yourself and your product attractive to a customer In your face: intimidating those around you Achievement Achievement is “privilege” Personal responsibility Society’s fault Historic success – example of America to the world Historic failure – socialist societies everywhere Building wealth Supported by builders of wealth Making personal and family history Drifting Supporting a strong community No stake in community; gang as community I am sure that AT readers can contribute many more. The larger point is that if you have no expectation of getting ahead in life, what used to be called “bettering yourself,” then you have no need to cultivate the habits, attitudes and practices that lead to achievement. In fact, people who do cultivate those traits are seen as prey, as losers, as inauthentic. One of the most damaging aspects of Welfare America as it relates to the black community is that the attitudes of Welfare America have come to be taken as the “authentic” black culture. That is why people with real achievement and the attitudes that created that achievement – Herman Cain, Justice Clarence Thomas, Dr, Ben Carson, Allen West – are seen as “not really black.” Welfare America is part of the Liberal/Left movement in America. The problem with Liberalism is that, as Margaret Thatcher observed, reality is conservative. Therefore Liberalism has to live on lies – lies of intent, lies of policy, lies of outcomes, lies of interpretation, lies of statistics. We saw that in ObamaCare. We see that in Ferguson today. Michael Brown fit the description of an APB that was put out after the robbery of the convenience store, which, in fact, he had committed. When Darren Wilson came across him, he fit the description of the APB and in fact had the stolen goods on him. Wilson had every reason to stop Brown. But those facts are not permitted in the public presentation of the case. Liberal lies are presented instead. And when rage flares up, what happens? Welfare America attacks Enterprise America. Businesses with no relationship to the altercation are burned down because they are not seen as an authentic part of the community. QED But things are changing. New winds are blowing, new voices being heard. Where are our businesses? Where are our jobs? The Republican Party on its way out? Not hardly. Enterprise America is finding its political voice, which it did not think necessary to express but now sees it is. What is going to happen over the next 50 years is that there is going to be a migration in the black community from Welfare America to Enterprise America. The first step is education -- vouchers. It tells you all you need to know about where Obama -- an avatar of Welfare America -- is coming from that his first act upon entering the White House was to cancel the very successful voucher program in Washington D.C. The significance of vouchers is not only in education itself, but that they involve families in the education of their children. There is a cultural impact beyond the educational impact. The role of men in the community has to be restored. How this is to be done is not clear, but seeing the need to do it is a start. We live in hope.