The Conservative Cave
Current Events => General Discussion => Topic started by: Big Dog on August 27, 2014, 08:12:04 AM
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A PROBLEM BIGGER THAN FERGUSON
Dr. Ben Carson
Townhall.com - 8/27/2014
The international spotlight has recently been shining on Ferguson, Mo., after an 18-year-old black man was fatally shot by a white police officer. There was massive national and international media coverage, much of it engendered by the tantalizing thought that here was a clear-cut case of racism leading to police brutality and indicative of the evil inherent in American society. Violent demonstrations and riots ensued, with massive property damage and many outside agitators descending on the town, supposedly to guarantee justice as defined by mob mentality.
Perhaps it would be useful to examine the tragedy with the facts on the table rather than through the lenses of hypersensitized emotions stimulated by those attempting to exploit the situation.
Michael Brown was 6-foot-4 and 290 pounds. He had marijuana in his system and was purportedly involved in a strong-arm robbery prior to the shooting. He and a companion were walking in the middle of the street and obstructing traffic and therefore were admonished by a police officer to move to the sidewalk. Brown, who may have been pharmacologically impaired, became belligerent, and the ensuing struggle produced facial trauma and an orbital fracture of the police officer's face. The officer, who may have been dazed by a blow to the cranium severe enough to produce a fracture, attempted to apprehend the assailant, and shots were fired, six of which struck the suspect, resulting in a fatality.
Regardless of one's position on the political spectrum, we can all agree that this was a horrible tragedy and needless discarding of a precious life. How could this have been avoided? Two obvious answers: The officer could have ignored his duty and backed off when it became apparent that his instructions would not be followed, thereby avoiding a confrontation, or Brown could have complied with the officer's instructions, according to his civic duties.
If police officers generally adopted the first solution, chaos would reign supreme in all of our streets. If the populace generally adopted the second solution, there would be even fewer incidents of police violence. Last year, 100 black males were killed by police in the United States. In the same year, 5,000 blacks were killed by other blacks, the vast majority being males. Could it be that we are erroneously being manipulated into making this incident a racial issue, when, in fact, it is a component of a much larger social issue?
Why are there so many young black men in the streets of America with defiant attitudes that frequently lead to incarceration or death? Could it be that a large number of them grow up without a father figure to teach them how to relate to authority and the meaning of personal responsibility? This is not to say that mothers cannot convey these important social lessons, as mine did. But in too many cases, these young unwed mothers have never themselves been exposed to personal responsibility and self-esteem, and the vicious cycle continues. As a society, we must concentrate on ways to break this tragic cycle that has produced a higher poverty rate in black communities across America with the increasing frustrations that underscore potentially explosive, tinderbox situations, as we have seen in Ferguson.
Once we get the most powerful economic engine the world has ever seen back on track with sensible economic policies, we should devote some of the tax revenues generated to child-care facilities that would allow many of those unwed mothers to get their General Education Development or higher degree and become self-supporting. There are also a number of programs across the nation that offer free classes that teach social and job skills, which would give many of the young men some different options.
We must concentrate on these kinds of programs because we cannot afford to lose large segments of our society to despair and underachievement in an increasingly competitive world. We have a social crisis brewing if we continue down the path we are on now, but we have the power to change our downward course with true compassion that allows people to rise and escape dependency.
Source: http://townhall.com/columnists/drbencarson/2014/08/27/a-problem-bigger-than-ferguson-n1883602/page/full
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A great rebuff of race hustlers, poverty pimps, and White guilt enablers, by the esteemed Dr. Carson.
Personal responsibility! Self-esteem! Sensible economic policies! Individual initiative: Rise and escape dependency!
:clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap:
The predictable response from the collectivists, the dependency class, and those who derive political power from them:
:runaway: :runaway: :runaway: :runaway: :runaway:
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51% of the population don't want reason and personal responsibility .....they want handouts and a free large screen TV.
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The other issue is the cry of "The X-Ray is not the Officer, therefore the entire story is fabricated!"*
As far as I can tell, Wilson did not have a fractured orbital socket, though he DID have facial injuries. The Michael Brown "crowd" chooses to ignore this fact.
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From Carson's article:
Once we get the most powerful economic engine the world has ever seen back on track with sensible economic policies, we should devote some of the tax revenues generated to child-care facilities that would allow many of those unwed mothers to get their General Education Development or higher degree and become self-supporting. There are also a number of programs across the nation that offer free classes that teach social and job skills, which would give many of the young men some different options.
We must concentrate on these kinds of programs because we cannot afford to lose large segments of our society to despair and underachievement in an increasingly competitive world. We have a social crisis brewing if we continue down the path we are on now, but we have the power to change our downward course with true compassion that allows people to rise and escape dependency.
This smacks to me of what politicians have done for decades -- throw money at a problem.
It's a noble thought and it's the right thing to do in many respects. BUT....the problem is, politicians have never met a program they didn't like.
The question should be for Carson:
"What kinds of government programs are going to be cut to permit us to move forward with this particular effort?"
"What kinds of accountability measures and controls are going to be in place to ensure that administration of this program is not met with fraud, waste, and abuse?"
"Who, specifically, is going to be accountable for this program? And what will happen to that person if this program fails?"
"What are the specific, defined, and measurable goals of this program?"
"Absent the actual achievement of the goals of this program, when does this program die? In other words, this program dies when it fails to meet its stated goals. At which point will that occur?"
All too often, these programs run in perpetuity with never or rarely any of these measurables defined ahead of time, monitored throughout the process, and reported at regular intervals for decision makers to determine the efficacy of the program.
Politicians completely fail in this regard. Carson, in this example, sounds like a professional politician.
I just threw up a little bit in my mouth.
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Euph, I agree with you about the idea of spending the benefits of lower taxes on such things. I found much to agree with in the op-ed, but not that part.
I see Carson as being 51% on my side, which is better than anybody else in the GOP right now. If only he dropped his support for social engineering at taxpayer expense (read 'my expense').
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"What kinds of government programs are going to be cut to permit us to move forward with this particular effort?"
"What kinds of accountability measures and controls are going to be in place to ensure that administration of this program is not met with fraud, waste, and abuse?"
"Who, specifically, is going to be accountable for this program? And what will happen to that person if this program fails?"
"What are the specific, defined, and measurable goals of this program?"
"Absent the actual achievement of the goals of this program, when does this program die? In other words, this program dies when it fails to meet its stated goals. At which point will that occur?"
All too often, these programs run in perpetuity with never or rarely any of these measurables defined ahead of time, monitored throughout the process, and reported at regular intervals for decision makers to determine the efficacy of the program.
Politicians completely fail in this regard. Carson, in this example, sounds like a professional politician.
I just threw up a little bit in my mouth.
It would be nice to see someone on assistance for over a certain amount of time, say 3 months would need to go to some type of educational classes offered by the State or do some type of labor for the State. Just like with a job if you didn't meet the job responsiblities then you would be cut or moved to a different less desirable area. :-)