Uncle Sam's Plantation

        *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."