Robert Tracinski revisited

A few days ago I sent an article by Robert Tracinski. I was very interested in the responses from all of you and so I thought I would share with all of you some of the responses. I really do
appreciate the thought and sentiment you all expressed.

Here they are:

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Amen (I actually got several responses like this)

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What do you want me to say? Another right-wing bigot flaps his gums. This was my favorite quote:

"But what about criminals and welfare parasites? Do they worry about saving their houses and property? They don't, because they don't own anything. Do they worry about what is going to happen to their businesses or how they are going to make a living? They never worried about those things before. Do they worry about crime and looting? But living off of stolen wealth is a way of life for them."

Sheesh. Nice stereotyping. And way to rub salt in the wounds of the victims in the darkest hour. In any case, this nazi should be happy. I suspect he feels vindicated that God hates poor black people as much as he does.

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Well, I think it is way too early to make generalities about what exactly went wrong (if you can even pinpoint it to a certain thing)--but I think that when all is said and done, there will be plenty of blame to go around as far as whose at fault. I'm not sure I agree with the author's assertion that the welfare state is ultimately at fault, and his intimation that most people on welfare are parasites sucking the system dry... I actually think that's a bit of a crass generalization. The more I read about some of these people who were caught down there, the more I think about how much they're caught up in a cruel cycle... it's easy for us to say "well, if you work hard enough, you can accomplish anything"--partticularly those of us that have had the relative comfort of a middle class up bringing... but if the more I read some of these people's stories, the more I wonder if that sentiment is applicable across the spectrum. I think there are some true barriers for some of these people to improve their stations in life...whether it be a child being born into an environment that makes it inconducive to actually getting a decent education, or the fact that their parents are unable to make a sufficiently decent living to provide such conducive environment.

That said, do I think the answer is the welfare state the author derides? Not necessarily... but I think that saying the welfare state is the end-all of the problem is trite and dogmatic... see the below article for some of the stories of people that didn't make it out... they don't really sound like welfare parasites to me...they just sound like people who were trying to get by and didn't have any other choice but to hang out.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/03/AR2005090301508.html

I will agree that there is a definite link between poverty and crime rates, but to say that the government shouldn't step in and help because such help feeds dependency, which is tied to a tendency toward criminality, seems bogus to me.

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In my humble opinion, Robert here has it dead on, and political correctness is not allowing for an honest discussion of what truly went wrong.

Furthermore those who choose to stay behind have no right to expect help to be brought to them. Help should be offered to those who have evacuated first. Those who stayed behind have to except the reward or consequences of their actions. It's a hard truth, but they choose to stay behind.

We should take advantage of the opportunity to remove from our society the dirt bags who are acting like barbarians (raping, robbing, and murdering) presently in New Orleans. We don't need them. They bring nothing to our country, and they are taxing the city they live in.

I hate welfare. It ruins lives.

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Re article, there may be an element of truth to the main message. Its no secret the NO has been a magnet for criminal activity for years, but it most likely presents an inaccurate picture to paint the general populace with the same brush as a few hundred/thousand criminals.

Besides, even normal or otherwise well adjusted people will do the unexpected when under tress or in shock. Its really ugly there, but your profession has been telling people for a long time that NO was a disaster waiting to happen.

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