*Back on Uncle Sam's plantation *
Star Parker - Syndicated Columnist
Six years ago I wrote a book called /Uncle Sam's Plantation/. I
wrote the book to tell my own story of what I saw living inside
the welfare state and my own transformation out of it.
I said in that book that indeed there are two Americas -- a poor
America on socialism and a wealthy America on capitalism.
I talked about government programs like Temporary Assistance for
Needy Families (TANF), Job Opportunities and Basic Skills
Training (JOBS), Emergency Assistance to Needy Families with
Children (EANF), Section 8 Housing, and Food Stamps.
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.
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?"
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.
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.
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.
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.
In an op-Ed on the opinion page of the /Washington Post/, Mr.
Obama is clear that the goal of his trillion dollar spending
plan is much more than short term economic stimulus.
"This plan is more than a prescription for short-term spending
-- it's a strategy for America 's long-term growth and
opportunity in areas such as renewable energy, healthcare, and
education."
Perhaps more incredibly, Obama seems to think that government
taking over an economy is a new idea. Or that massive growth in
government can take place "with unprecedented transparency and
accountability."
Yes, sir, we heard it from Jimmy Carter when he created the
Department of Energy, the Synfuels Corporation, and the
Department of Education.
Or how about the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 -- The War on
Poverty -- which President Johnson said "...does not merely
expand old programs or improve what is already being done. It
charts a new course. It strikes at the causes, not just the
consequences of poverty."/
Trillions of dollars later, black poverty is the same. But black
families are not, with triple the incidence of single-parent
homes and out-of-wedlock births.
It's not complicated. Americans can accept Barack Obama's
invitation to move onto the plantation. Or they can choose
personal responsibility and freedom.
Does anyone really need to think about what the choice should be?
*"The trouble with socialism is that you eventually run out of
other people's money."
