The real troubles in New Orleans.. and elsewhere

Now that the rebuilding appears to be in full swing in New Orleans, aside from strengthening the dykes and reviewing evacuation plans, perhaps something underlying, yet even more dire needs to be addressed. That of the welfare state entitlement mentality that has led to one of the most embarrassing displays of behavior by American citizens in not-so-recent memory. Since 1964, the welfare state, which has always been euphamised as "a hand up" has become "a hand out". It has created a dependency class and a cycle in which lives are not improved, and people continue to live in squalor, despite the promises of LBJ's "War on Poverty" and "The Great Society." Housing projects sprang up where people were packed in like sardines (growing up in Chicago, I witnessed the squalor first hand). Fathers were encouraged not to be in the home, because families got more benefits if a working father was not around. A glass ceiling; no a lead ceiling was placed over these people, and they were told time and time again that they had no chance of living, much less succeeding, without the scraps thrown to them by their elected limousine liberal plantation barons, all the while being promised that the libs they elect would, in time, be able to "stick it to the man." No offerings of hope. Just an offer of confiscation of the wealthy. Any who did rise from the squalor to participate in the entrepreneurial spirit of the greater society were derided as "Uncle Toms;" not really black, etc. As I often say, "The Great Society" has been anything but. I can say with confidence that our welfare-state created cycle of dependency has been the single largest crime against humanity in our nation's history after slavery. And at least slavery had an end.