manu1959
Left Coast Isolationist
sorry sent to me by a friend no link...maybe crap but interesting none the less
Subject: FW: Welfare State.
By Patrick J. Buchanan C 2005 Creators Syndicate Inc.
In his 1935 State of the Union Address, FDR spoke to a nation mired in the
Depression, but still marinated in conservative values:
"Continued dependence" upon welfare, said FDR, "induces a spiritual
disintegration fundamentally destructive to the national fiber. To dole our
relief in this way is to administer a narcotic, a subtle destroyer of
the human spirit."
Behind FDR's statement was the conviction that, while the government
must step in an emergency, in normal times, men provide the food, clothing
and shelter for their families. And we did, until the war pulled us out of the
Depression and a postwar boom made us, in John K. Galbraith's phrase, "The
Affluent Society."
By the 1960s, America, the richest country on earth, was growing ever more
prosperous. But with the 1964 landslide of LBJ, liberalism triumphed and
began its great experiment. Behind the Great Society was a great idea: to
lift America's poor out of poverty, government should now take care of all their
basic needs. By giving the poor welfare, subsidized food, public housing and
free medical care, government will end poverty in America.
At the Superdome and New Orleans Convention Center, we saw the failure of 40
years of the Great Society. No sooner had Katrina passed by and the 17th
Street levee broke than hundreds of young men who should have taken charge
in helping the aged, the sick and the women with babies to safety took to the
streets to shoot, loot and rape. The New Orleans police, their numbers cut
by deserters who left their posts to look after their families, engaged in
running gun battles all day long to stay alive and protect people.
It was the character and conduct of its people that makes the New Orleans
disaster unique. After a hurricane, people's needs are simple: food, water,
shelter, medical attention. But they can be hard to meet. People buried in
rubble or hiding in attics of flooded homes are tough to get to. But,
even with the incompetence of the mayor and governor, and the torpor of
federal officials, this was possible.
Coast Guard helicopters were operating Tuesday. There were roads open
into the city for SUVs, buses and trucks. While New Orleans was flooded, the
water was stagnant. People walked through to the convention center and
Superdome. The flimsiest boat could navigate. Even if government dithered
for days - what else is new - this does not explain the failure of the people
themselves.
Between 1865 and 1940, the South - having lost a fourth of its best and
bravest in battle, devastated by war, mired in poverty - was famous for the
hardy self- reliance of her people, black and white.
In 1940, hundreds of British fishermen and yachtsmen sailed back and
forth daily under fire across a turbulent 23-mile Channel to rescue 300,000
soldiers from Dunkirk. How do we explain to the world that a tenth that
number of Americans could not be reached in four days from across a stagnant pond?
The real disaster of Katrina was that society broke down. An entire
community could not cope. Liberalism, the idea that good intentions and
government programs can build a Great Society, was exposed as fraud. After
trillions of tax dollars for welfare, food stamps, public housing, job
training and education have poured out since 1965, poverty remains pandemic. But
today, when the police vanish, the community disappears and men take to the streets
to prey on women and the weak.
Stranded for days in a pool of fetid water, almost everyone waited for the
government to come save them. They screamed into the cameras for help,
and the reporters screamed into the cameras for help, and the "civil rights
leaders" screamed into the cameras that Bush was responsible and Bush was a
racist.
Americans were once famous for taking the initiative, for having young
leaders rise up to take command in a crisis. See any of that at the
Superdome? Sri Lankans and Indonesians, far poorer than we, did not behave like this in
a tsunami that took 400 times as many lives as Katrina has thus far. We are
the descendants of men and women who braved the North Atlantic in wooden boats
to build a country in a strange land. Our ancestors traveled thousands of
miles in covered wagons, fighting off Indians far braver than those cowards
preying on New Orleans' poor.
Watching that performance in the Crescent City, it seems clear: We are
not the people our parents were. And what are all our Lords Temporal now
howling for? Though government failed at every level, they want more government.
FDR was right. A "spiritual disintegration" has overtaken us. Government-as-
first provider, the big idea of the Great Society, has proven to be "a
narcotic, a subtle destroyer of the human spirit."
Either we get off this narcotic, or it kills us.
Subject: FW: Welfare State.
By Patrick J. Buchanan C 2005 Creators Syndicate Inc.
In his 1935 State of the Union Address, FDR spoke to a nation mired in the
Depression, but still marinated in conservative values:
"Continued dependence" upon welfare, said FDR, "induces a spiritual
disintegration fundamentally destructive to the national fiber. To dole our
relief in this way is to administer a narcotic, a subtle destroyer of
the human spirit."
Behind FDR's statement was the conviction that, while the government
must step in an emergency, in normal times, men provide the food, clothing
and shelter for their families. And we did, until the war pulled us out of the
Depression and a postwar boom made us, in John K. Galbraith's phrase, "The
Affluent Society."
By the 1960s, America, the richest country on earth, was growing ever more
prosperous. But with the 1964 landslide of LBJ, liberalism triumphed and
began its great experiment. Behind the Great Society was a great idea: to
lift America's poor out of poverty, government should now take care of all their
basic needs. By giving the poor welfare, subsidized food, public housing and
free medical care, government will end poverty in America.
At the Superdome and New Orleans Convention Center, we saw the failure of 40
years of the Great Society. No sooner had Katrina passed by and the 17th
Street levee broke than hundreds of young men who should have taken charge
in helping the aged, the sick and the women with babies to safety took to the
streets to shoot, loot and rape. The New Orleans police, their numbers cut
by deserters who left their posts to look after their families, engaged in
running gun battles all day long to stay alive and protect people.
It was the character and conduct of its people that makes the New Orleans
disaster unique. After a hurricane, people's needs are simple: food, water,
shelter, medical attention. But they can be hard to meet. People buried in
rubble or hiding in attics of flooded homes are tough to get to. But,
even with the incompetence of the mayor and governor, and the torpor of
federal officials, this was possible.
Coast Guard helicopters were operating Tuesday. There were roads open
into the city for SUVs, buses and trucks. While New Orleans was flooded, the
water was stagnant. People walked through to the convention center and
Superdome. The flimsiest boat could navigate. Even if government dithered
for days - what else is new - this does not explain the failure of the people
themselves.
Between 1865 and 1940, the South - having lost a fourth of its best and
bravest in battle, devastated by war, mired in poverty - was famous for the
hardy self- reliance of her people, black and white.
In 1940, hundreds of British fishermen and yachtsmen sailed back and
forth daily under fire across a turbulent 23-mile Channel to rescue 300,000
soldiers from Dunkirk. How do we explain to the world that a tenth that
number of Americans could not be reached in four days from across a stagnant pond?
The real disaster of Katrina was that society broke down. An entire
community could not cope. Liberalism, the idea that good intentions and
government programs can build a Great Society, was exposed as fraud. After
trillions of tax dollars for welfare, food stamps, public housing, job
training and education have poured out since 1965, poverty remains pandemic. But
today, when the police vanish, the community disappears and men take to the streets
to prey on women and the weak.
Stranded for days in a pool of fetid water, almost everyone waited for the
government to come save them. They screamed into the cameras for help,
and the reporters screamed into the cameras for help, and the "civil rights
leaders" screamed into the cameras that Bush was responsible and Bush was a
racist.
Americans were once famous for taking the initiative, for having young
leaders rise up to take command in a crisis. See any of that at the
Superdome? Sri Lankans and Indonesians, far poorer than we, did not behave like this in
a tsunami that took 400 times as many lives as Katrina has thus far. We are
the descendants of men and women who braved the North Atlantic in wooden boats
to build a country in a strange land. Our ancestors traveled thousands of
miles in covered wagons, fighting off Indians far braver than those cowards
preying on New Orleans' poor.
Watching that performance in the Crescent City, it seems clear: We are
not the people our parents were. And what are all our Lords Temporal now
howling for? Though government failed at every level, they want more government.
FDR was right. A "spiritual disintegration" has overtaken us. Government-as-
first provider, the big idea of the Great Society, has proven to be "a
narcotic, a subtle destroyer of the human spirit."
Either we get off this narcotic, or it kills us.
