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June 1, 2010
A Liberal Confesses: Conservatives Were Right About Crime
Posted by The MaryHunter at June 1, 2010 5:03 AM
One of the most pleasant feelings is to see an outspoken, unapologetic, snarky liberal columnist eat some crow. Richard Cohen is one of those WaPo columnists I love to despise. But in the face of overwhelming data, you've got to hand it to him. He's trying to come clean on once cherished Democrat beliefs about crime and poverty, upon which so many liberal entitlement policies were founded.
This is a good news, bad news column. The good news is that crime is again down across the nation -- in big cities, small cities, flourishing cities and cities that are not for the timid. Surprisingly, this has happened in the teeth of the Great Recession, meaning that those disposed to attribute criminality to poverty -- my view at one time -- have some strenuous rethinking to do. It could be, as conservatives have insisted all along, that crime is committed by criminals. For liberals, this is bad news indeed.
Don't you love it how it's always a zero-sum game with progressives. What he couches as "good news" for conservatives -- namely, that poverty and crime are not directly linked -- can only be "bad news" for his ilk.
Whatever the reasons, it now seems fairly clear that something akin to culture and not economics is the root cause of crime. By and large everyday people do not go into a life of crime because they have been laid off or their home is worth less than their mortgage. They do something else, but whatever it is, it does not generally entail packing heat. Once this becomes an accepted truth, criminals will lose what status they still retain as victims.
Of course, this is not news to folks who follow the real news on Fox and listen to Rush, Mark, Sean, etc. Indeed, I posted on this way back in February. Glad to see you catching up with the information curve there, Mr. Cohen. Just remember: this can also be a win-win, if you let it.
