Say Anything Blog

Well said, Bubba.

The interesting thing is that I have said repeatedly in my writings about the reservations that I do not think the problems that exist there are inherent to the Indian race.  The crime and poverty doesn’t happen because they’re Indian.  It happens because of the welfare state the Indians are living in.

And there’s other examples away from the reservations.  Look at the blacks in the inner city.  Look at the whites in trailer parks down south.  Heck, look at anyone who has decided to make themselves dependent on the government instead of dependent on themselves.

It’s not a racial thing, it’s a policy thing.  What’s sad is that we could probably fix it if we could ever get past the “racism” thing.

When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.

-- Thomas Jefferson

Rob’s recently listened-to songs:

...one of the main causes for the squalor of the inner city and many reservations is our welfare system.

Not so much a “cause” as an instigator. The bad behavior is the cause. Welfare only rewards that bad behavior.

When you reward something, you get more of it.

Hope and change, in a free world, are the private possessions of motivated individuals.

When you reward something, you get more of it.

Very true. Just making the distinction because saying that welfare is one of the causes passes the buck from one’s own behavior onto a third party.

It’s both a minor point and an important distinction.

Keep in mind that the comments here are missing the central point; how interesting (and sad) it is that many confuse blaming bad incentives, and blaming people as a race or ethnicity.

I don’t know how to get around it, but I’ve seen it many times, and it’s really sad.

Bike Bubba - I’m pretty sure that we three get your central point. We have all been victims of the point you are making, as I’m more than sure you have as well. Whether at this blog or at the national political stage, we see it played out every single time welfare is discussed. It gets old.

Think it will ever change?