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September 30, 2005
Poverty Versus the Underclass
Charles Murray draws an excellent distinction in an editorial in yesterday's Wall Street Journal (thanks to Byron for the tip). Opportunistic politicians believe that they have rediscovered poverty in the wake of the hurricanes, but it isn't poverty we've been confronted with — it's the underclass.
Poverty is associated with the underclass only because the mentality that characterizes the underclass inevitably leads to indigence. Absent this mentality, poverty is solved by opportunity. But the underclass, by definition, rejects opportunity because of the responsibility it entails. The availability of jobs that draws so many immigrants into this country makes no difference to the underclass, because its members have no interest in jobs.
There were people who didn't evacuate New Orleans as Katrina approached because they couldn't be bothered to, despite some predictions that would have put them under 30 feet of water. When they lucked out instead of drowning, they looted and shot at rescuers, or inertly waited for someone else to do something. This is the behavior of the underclass.
Certainly there are poor people who struggle and take responsibility for themselves and their families. But in America, people like that don't stay poor for long. To stay poor long enough to pass poverty on through generations, Americans would almost have to be members of the underclass.
The reason throwing money at poverty only exacerbates the problem is that free money allows the underclass to thrive. For the most part, the sort of poverty that we saw floundering in the wake of Katrina is not caused by lack of opportunity. It is caused by an underclass that thrives on the wrong kind of opportunity: the opportunity to avoid responsibility.
Posted by Van Helsing at September 30, 2005 1:53 PM
Comments
That article (which right now is the most e-mailed of recent WSJ articles), plus an essay written by Peggy Noonan in the 09/29 WSJ, on government authority vs. responsibility hits it squarely on the head. I’m a pessimist though. Seems the superannuated Rooseveltians & Great Society-ists need to die off or go to pasture first before any fundamental change can be expected.
Posted by: ex-expat at September 30, 2005 2:21 PM
Thank you. A person may be born in poverty, but people CHOOSE to STAY poor. This is America, and opportunities still abound, regardless of what the left is trying to force us to believe.
I didn't have a lot when I was growing up, but now
- - I choose to drive a nice car
- - I choose to live in a nice house
- - I choose to eat well and take care of myself
- because
- - I chose to educate myself and I choose to work.
Posted by: Pauly at September 30, 2005 4:22 PM
OT: Jimmy Carter Is A Sick Son of a Bitch
Who takes pictures of girls while they pee.
The second image Carter recalled was of a young Ethiopian girl’s eagerness to demonstrate that she, like her brother, could use the small latrine their father had made for them.“She spread her skirt out very carefully and she squatted down to relieve herself.” Carter said.
Carter added jokingly, “We took some pictures of it.”
Posted by: V the K at September 30, 2005 5:32 PM
Well put! The Underclass. Thats the perfect term.
Posted by: echotig at September 30, 2005 6:16 PM
Is that why college "underclassmen" smell funny and wear Che-shirts and army jackets, but upperclassmen are all about grad school applications and resumes?
Explains a lot, really...
Posted by: Josh at October 1, 2005 2:24 AM
