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Welfare dependency and its unprivileged offspring

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Part 2 of 2

Last week I explored the notion of privilege in relation to racial identity, achievement and children raised in broken homes. The scientific consensus is that success and mental health are greatly heightened when children of all races are raised by both their biological mother and father.

Let’s move along to other correlations. In 1760 Benjamin Franklin observed in his travels around the world “the more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves and became richer.”

Over 200 years after Ben’s observation, the 1960s War on Poverty validated his sage insight once again. Redistribution of wealth policies have failed over and over again for centuries worldwide, enslaving societies to welfare dependency, destroying their spirits by way of the soft bigotry of low expectations, and done with totally benign utopian intentions. For many minority communities it might be better termed the War on Prosperity.

The insidious mechanism for American welfare dependency often requires the breakdown of the nuclear family. A productive employed father is discouraged from living with his wife and children under penalty of losing food, medical and housing assistance.

Since LBJ’s War on Poverty 50 years of government programs, feminist activism, diminished stigma of promiscuity and divorce, all at a cost of $16 trillion dollars have resulted in the skyrocketing breakdown of the family and no decline in poverty.

Overall, the percentage of children born out of wedlock has increased from 6 percent prior to the War on Poverty to 42 percent today. In 1950, 12 percent of children grew up in broken homes (lacking a biological mother or father), in 2000 that number soared to 60 percent.

Married couples with children average $80,000 per year income while single moms make $24,000, yet children from low-income two-parent families outperform students from high-income, single-parents. That’s not all, the proportion of single-parent households in a community predicts its rate of violent crime and burglary, but the community’s poverty level does not.

After decades of social science studies we now know that the chances of all the following behavior disorders double, triple and quadruple with children and adults raised in broken homes compared to those raised by their biological mother and father: domestic abuse, school drop-outs and underachievement, promiscuity, teen pregnancy and abortion, gang participation, criminal activity, depression, suicide, unemployment, poverty, domestic violence, divorce, substance abuse, personality disorders, relationship problems, identity crises, bullying, anxiety disorders, eating disorders – say hello to the Millennials.

Our ancient ancestors didn’t need Sigmund Freud to recognize and analyze self-esteem issues responsible for the myriad of dysfunctional behaviors associated with broken homes. They could recognize the undeniable truth of destructive consequences and the need for society to take measures to protect a child’s birthrights whether by societal moral stigmatization, behavior taboos or government incentives.

Back then political correctness had not yet reared its ugly head. Somewhere along the way children’s rights became an afterthought. In the modern age of moral relativism PC notions of marriage have little to do with security or birthrights of children, instead it merely fulfills adults selfish needs to express their freedom, self-actualization and ‘right to love’, as if only married couples are allowed to experience personal attachment or deep affection. Then again it could just be about other selfish wants of financial gain from government benefits. Either way, children are secondary.

Here in McKinley County it should be no wonder that we have not only one of the highest welfare dependency rates in the nation, but also one of the highest rates of children raised in broken homes, so the next time you hear someone talk about white privilege you might want to challenge their political correctness with the more accurate label “raised by biological mother and father privilege”