Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Ending The Poverty Blues

Walter Russell Mead

  • One of the most important claims that the friends of the blue social model make is that it addresses the needs of the poor and the weak better than any other existing social system...but the claim is more questionable than blues admit
  • The horrendous conditions in inner cities...the entrenched mediocrity and worse (far, far worse in too many cases) of so many public schools...raise legitimate questions about whether blue really performs as advertised.
  • Some of the programs (like Medicare) will literally bankrupt us if not changed
  • big changes are needed, and this is where a new social vision is going to have to take shape
  • All things being equal, a wealthier society will be more willing and more able to help the poor than a poorer one.
  • Ripping up the bloated administrative systems, deflating the cost structures...are vital for the social productivity and economic prosperity of the nation as a whole
  • Much of the change that we need will offend powerful interest groups.
  • Both Obamacare and single payer systems bureaucratize health care and slow down the process of deep restructuring that the sector actually needs.
  • A leaner, more effective government will promote economic growth and employment in other ways.
  • Blue partisans are stuck on the idea that progress to be real must be blue. That idea doesn’t work anywhere these days, and it works least of all for the poor.
Comment: [emphasis added]

An honest appraisal of Obama does not yield what this piece suggests.  It comes from a Democrat, which should not be reassuring to Democrats.  Unless they are willing to do a lot of soul searching, a victory for Democrats this November will yield a lot of bitter fruit for everyone.  The question is:  will enough people wake up in time?

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