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Saints!

Friday
March 29th, 2024
L&T Opinions Page

earl watt mugL&T Publisher Earl Watt

 

During a pro-Second Amendment rally in the State of Washington last week to protest a  law to limit gun rights, a counter protest showed up, and the police had to get involved, arresting several counter protesters for assault.

The counter protesters also brought noise makers and whistles to disrupt the ability of those in support of the Second Amendment from being heard.

This counter protest was a clear civil rights violation. The Constitution guarantees the right of the people to peaceably assemble and to redress the government for grievances. 

When others show up and prevent one side from being heard, they are violating their right to redress the government and their right to free speech. The counter protesters were not peaceably assembling when their purpose was to disrupt the supporters of the Second Amendment.

Isn’t it strange that it seems only those who want more government control have their rights protected, and those who seek to limit government can be harassed, shouted down and even beaten by those who claim to be seeking peace?

This same double standard exists in how we are exposed to happenings in the nation’s capital.

When President Donald Trump questions the actions of the nation’s investigators, like the FBI or the CIA, he is portrayed as obstructing justice and undermining the ability of these agencies to successfully perform their duties.

But when lawmakers call for the abolishment of ICE or claim that all law enforcement agencies are racist “top to bottom” like Elizabeth Warren has stated, there are no claims by the media of these people obstructing justice.

Ironically, when Warren makes that claim, does she realize she is including the FBI? It seems she will overlook their perceived racist tendencies as long as they spy on Trump.

How are counter protesters and calls to abolish ICE related? They all rely on a false interpretation of social justice.

By definition, social justice is “a concept of fair and just relations between the individual and society.”

But it has been hijacked to mean groups have been discriminated against by police, by those who hire, and has been used as an excuse for disparities between racial groups.

As evidence, they use statistics that show how many more minorities have been incarcerated as opposed to caucasians.

Their statistics are accurate. But blaming law enforcement and the legal system is not necessarily the natural cause.

The two biggest causes are poverty and broken homes.

There are many that have been left out of the fruits of the most opportunistic society on the planet, and much of it has to do with institutionalized poverty that was given rise by the concept of the “Great Society” dreamed up by President Lyndon Johnson in the 1960s.

In an effort to address statistical problems of the time, the solution was an absolute failure.

In 1965, 3.1 percent of white infants were born out of wedlock while 24 percent of black infants were born to single mothers.

Johnson sought to provide free housing and welfare benefits as a solution to this problem.

What happened?

By 1990, 64 percent of black infants were born to single mothers, and 18 percent for whites. Those numbers have grown to 75 percent for black infants, meaning three out of four are born to single mothers. 

Statistics also show that children born out of wedlock are more likely to live in unstable homes, in poverty, and become more likely to have infractions with law enforcement.

In an effort to create value in the individual, we devalued them by making the believe they needed handouts to survive rather than empowering them to earn their own way. The inner city schools have failed their role of becoming the great equalizer, not providing the knowledge and skills for these children to succeed on their own. Drugs and other promiscuous behavior become distractions to the reality around them despite government checks.

Society has failed these people, but not in the way they may have been told to believe.

By creating free housing Johnson created ghettos. By replacing the need for a job and a spouse by handing out government checks, Johnson replaced the role of the father with Uncle Sam.

Society has taught our young people their government owes them a living, and they simply support those politicians who will increase benefits rather than those who truly believe in the power of the person to take control of their own destiny.

Christians have a spiritual obligation to help those in need, but encouraging institutionalized poverty is not helping. It is hurting.

What does help is a job that allows a person to have self worth. By earning a paycheck, value is created in the individual.

Before Johnson’s Great Society failure, the world experienced the Great Depression in the 1930s.

President Franklin Roosevelt started a number of government programs to help, from the Civil Conservation Corps to the Works Progress Administration.

They didn’t provide welfare checks. They provided jobs. And those who worked these jobs not only earned a paycheck, but they helped develop necessary infrastructure across America.

The Fairgrounds wall right here in Liberal was a WPA project that provided jobs.

The social injustice has been the belief that we can create value in people by giving them government checks.

The evidence has been clear. This leads to more broken homes and more poverty rather than less.

Social justice has to include breaking the poverty cycle by providing jobs and educational opportunities. By doing so, the symptoms of incarceration and gang activity will decrease.

Tutoring, mentoring and requiring work or classes for benefits will achieve social justice in ways we have never imagined. When we invest in these things, we invest in valuing people.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR, Reita Isaacs, Liberal

 

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