Hidden, Subtle Underclass Coddling

One of the greatest misconceptions among liberals and normal folk is how poor people manage to live. How do they have kids? How do they exist? Oh gosh, how do they even live? You’re well aware of the the exasperated tone used when considering the plight of the poor. The progressives have set up a jobs machine for themselves that creates a situation in which we socialize the losses for every dysfunctional decision a person can make. We have divorced consequences from actions, resulting in disastrous cultural results.

There was a tremendous tweet about the network of government agencies designed to help the poor.

- See more at: http://www.socialmatter.net/2015/11/22/hidden-subtle-underclass-coddling/#sthash.gGS56Rnl.F5rrAZTd.dpuf

In one unreadable chart: the 80 plus govt programs to help low income families. https://t.co/O1AQW5ZTQv pic.twitter.com/3FCBTWfc9G

— Kay Hymowitz (@KayHymowitz) November 6, 2015

That is absurd. It is impossible to follow. Zero Hedge has tracked the disincentives and corrosive effects of such lavish welfare systems in different states. Think tanks are even on-board with the analysis that welfare undermines marriage and healthy family formation. Any ɧoɱosɛҳųαƖ thinking that gαy marriage would earn them benefits is the last American to know the scam. The progressive goal is to remove any self-sufficiency and non-government bonds and replace them with dependencies that are contingent on one’s status with the government.

It is beyond money and benefits. When Nixon and Moynihan tried to install a UBI, the goal was to remove those programs to be as efficient as possible. The other consequence was a class of unemployed former “do-gooders” that actually contribute to the malaise and dysfunction of the underclass by enabling them. They have to maintain dysfunction, or else the need for those do-gooders dries up. With a check in the mail and no programs, there is no one who has a vested interest in the dysfunctional government consumer not improving.

One program that crossed my path is a curious one in Ohio. There is a Furniture Bank of Central Ohio. This helps the poor get free furniture to furnish their apartments and homes (rent paid for by you with Section 8 and welfare). Furniture is donated, so there is no money on the government ledger. This actually is not for the poor. This is for the poor that have social workers and case managers. These can be parolees, recovering addicts, and even people in the child protective services (CPS) web. Yes, you or your partner beat your kid to a pulp but get furniture if you promise not to do it again! A case manager refers a person in a “difficult situation,” and said person can pick up 14-16 items for their home. One has to be part of the system to reap the benefits of the system. Employed college graduates with mountains of debt do not reap this benefit. There is no starter apartment for them.

This socializes the losses because a recovering junkie who gets his or her kid back needs a place to stay. No way is he or she moving back in with their parents, if they even know them, so they need furniture. They may be a junkie, but they are not such a loser that they should be forced to have to live with their parents again. What women needs to carefully plan or avoid pregnancy or consider the merits of her child’s father if Uncle Sam will keep her out of third-world poverty? This program enables them to have a place with relative comfort, so they do not have to face the hardship and consequences of their bad decisions. They never have to learn and never have to feel shame. CPS sends their kid back to them. The junkie’s parent never has to face the problem of their dysfunctional kid being dropped on their door again. No one faces consequences.

A case worker explained to me the story of a woman who had her twins taken away due to drug offenses. At the Family Court session, the judge asked the maternal grandmother (father was in jail) if she would take the twins while the mom was in rehab. Grandma said no because she liked going to the bar on weekends, as well as bingo and bowling twice a week. Those twins went into the system. Mom got them back after her rehab stint, and mom also got new teeth because her old grill was rotten. The sickest part? Mom had an older child that she lost custody of (the father won) due to her drugging and drinking. Once custody was stripped on kid one, she got knocked up by father two. She is free to cause mayhem on society and her children with the knowledge that the system will always be there to make sure her kids are not walking the streets barefoot.

We are told it’s the “good” thing to help these people. What is the help? The help seems to be in making their life free to chase fun, whether drugs, drinking, or sex. They all get to pursue their fun in relative comfort provided by you and I. The kids can be snatched up and sent to Head Start while mom does… whatever recovering addicts of child abusers do… and then the kid comes home to sleep in a bed and sit on a couch, rather than on milk crates and cinder blocks. Mom can still eat plenty (EBT from you and me!), pop pills (Medicaid, from you and me!) and today we see our poorest citizens are also our fattest citizens. Take a one day staycation and watch daytime television. Not the programs, but watch the television advertisements. You will see antidepressant ads, lawyers to help with Social Security filings, ads for class action lawsuits for mothers of children with birth defects due to mom using antidepressants while pregnant.

These are nice things, but in being nice, despite the original person’s breach of the social contract, are we not doing society harm? Like a genome accuмulating mutations, how long can society rack up dysfunctional members? The entire system is set up to keep the dysfunction staggering along, so that we can employ a myriad of people doing what families were formerly in charge of doing. The progressives destroyed the family, atomized existence, and then built up government structures to replicate the family. We are failing miserably. Family is more than transactions, actions, and money. The love, investment, and connection felt between active family members transcend whatever PowerPoint presentation goals a man made program could ever imagine.