Here is my post at CatholicVote.org on Marco Rubio’s approach to dealing with poverty. We need more Republicans talking aboutand acting for the working poor.
I have considered Senator Rubio with some hope since he burst on the scene. Now, after reading his thoughts on the “War on Poverty,” at least some of what I hoped he could be has started to come to fruition….
Politics is irrelevant to poverty. Here’s why.
Poor Americans have all the material support they need to improve their circumstances. A typical poor family enjoys income and housing support, health care, preschool education, public school education, college loans or scholarships, and employment and training programs—all provided at taxpayers’ expense. On top of all the government assistance, Americans donate more than $300 billion to more than one million charities every year. The typical poor family has food, clothing, access to health care, a home in good repair, more living space than middle-class Europeans, and all the basic amenities of modern life (electricity, plumbing, a car, a washing machine, TVs, etc.).
Almost anyone in America can stay out of poverty by following three simple rules: Graduate high school, don’t have a child out of wedlock, and hold down any full-time job for at least one year. Regardless of race or social background, following these three simple rules gives you a 74 percent chance of being middle class and only a 2 percent chance of being poor. As long as poor people drop out of school, don’t work, or make babies they can’t afford—they’ll stay poor no matter what society tries to do for them.
Many of these behaviors result from the perverse incentives created by the welfare state. Sadly, these behaviors have become self-reinforcing, passing from one generation to the next. Cutting spending now won’t affect poverty because irresponsibility, fecklessness, and criminality are entrenched in underclass culture.
There is little government can do about poverty. Increasing social spending won’t help, cutting spending won’t help—neither will “creating jobs,” “fixing the schools,” or raising the minimum wage. The problem is CULTURAL, not ECONOMIC. The only way to lower poverty rates is to change the personal choices of young Americans. That can’t happen through government. It can only happen through real people in real life—teachers, tutors, mentors, coaches, counselors, volunteers, friends, or neighbors—helping change one person at time, one family at at time. Poor people need guidance, encouragement, and tough love—not handouts, excuses, and social engineering.
I’m not sure you’ve met a lot of poor people Dude, or had to live in their shoes. While there is some of what you write that I agree with, namely that the problems of poverty are cultural at their root, the idea that we should just let the poor die while we try to give them “tough love” or “counsel” them that is until they learn that they have to get their lives in order is… well… that’s called Social Darwinism which is in no way shape or form compatible with Catholic Social Teaching… or Scripture for that matter. I’m kind of astonished at your willingness to so callously write off all of the poor in the U.S. I’ll pray for you Dude, I’ll pray that you find some time to actually work with the poor. I think you’ll find that they are not all of them irresponsible, feckless or criminal.
I never proposed “letting them die.” Sheesh! Give me some credit!
Let me clarify.
Here’s the standard discourse over poverty in America: Liberals want to increase social spending and the minimum wage, conservatives want to lower social spending, and everybody wants to create jobs and fix the schools.
Here’s what I’m saying: These proposals won’t work because they don’t address the cultural roots of poverty. Even some liberal scholars agree. Ron Haskins of the Brookings Institution: “Washington already spends enough on antipoverty programs to lift all Americans out of poverty. To mount an effective war against poverty, we need changes in the personal decisions of more young Americans.”
How do we do that? I don’t think there’s a political solution. That’s why “politics is irrelevant to poverty.” I propose just going out and helping the working poor—interacting with them, living closer to them, and providing them guidance and social reinforcement. Charles Murray puts it best: Married, educated people who work hard and conscientiously raise their kids need to drop their condescending “nonjudgmentalism” and start “preaching what they practice” to people who defy these norms. All this is compatible with the gospel. Jesus practiced “tough love” when appropriate. A genuine spirit of charity prompts people into direct contact with others, whereas politicking often stems from self-indulgence.
I’m open to other ideas, but let’s start by acknowledging the real problem. It’s not the economy, the schools, racism, or anything else that can supposedly be “fixed” by government. It’s underclass culture—and that’s the harsh truth. Not to get off track, but this is another reason to slow immigration. Previous generations of immigrants assimilated into America’s middle-class culture of industriousness, marriage, and civic responsibility. But it’s hard for immigrants to “assimilate” if they have a constant steam of immigrants coming behind them. Instead, they get sucked into the underclass and tend to recreate the living conditions in their homelands. That’s why Hispanic rates of illegitimacy, poverty, crime, and dropping out of school are so worrisome.
Thanks the prayers. I like your blog. Here are some links to back up what I’m saying:
Three Simple Rules for Staying Out of Poverty: http://jacksonville.com/opinion/editorials/2012-01-27/story/three-rules-staying-out-poverty
Charles Murray on America’s New Divide: http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052970204301404577170733817181646
Heather MacDonald on the need to slow immigration to allow for assimilation:
http://www.city-journal.org/2012/22_1_california-demographics.html
Dude,
Thanks for the clarification, but I’m not disagreeing with you that culture is important, indeed most important. But to say that “politics is irrelevant” is to ignore the power of law, of order, of governing, of human nature. What’s more, you write as though all poverty is at its root a result of bad culture. But some of it isn’t. Some poverty is caused not by a lack of will power, but by poor health, bad luck, risky decisions, imprudence etc. The “underclass culture” exists in some communities, sure. But not all the poor belong to that culture. Some of the poor, particularly the Hispanic poor and the African poor, don’t relate to the culture you’re talking about.
As for immigration, I’m not sure you have a good grasp of immigration of the past. “Previous generations of immigrants assimilated into America’s middle-class culture” you say? What is that culture? Is middle-class culture one that values hard work, marriage, honesty, religiosity? If so, then “assimilated” isn’t the right word. Europeans and Hispanics already live by that culture. Or is middle-class culture one that speaks English, waves the American flag and follows our customs? Well, then previous generations of immigrants were notoriously bad at that. In fact, German Catholics actually fought with the bishops of the U.S. in order to be able to maintain their German Masses, their German-speaking seminaries and their German Catholic periodicals.
But if we grant that previous generations assimilated just fine, how do you account for the fact that they managed it despite the boat loads of immigrants behind them, their fellow Germans and Italians and Irish? But now you’ve got me off topic…
Poverty is not only a result of an underclass culture. Does such a culture exist? Yes. Should it be addressed? Yes. I agree with Murray, and I’m a fan of his work. But Murray would agree that laws, argued and worked out by means of the skills of politics, have a role in how we address that cultural change. They must. So the speech by Rubio is exactly the sort of movement we need to help inspire creativity as we help the poor reality their own potential.
You might want to read up on some of the work by the Family Independence Initiative. I wrote a piece on them for the Register. They are doing great work to fight poverty. They address culture peripherally and not through “tough love” but rather by means of allowing the poor the space and the tools by which to discover their inherent ability to make better decisions.
Thanks for providing me the links.