The
first step toward solving social ills is to understand people. Our
founders well understood that people are not inherently good, but they are
redeemable. That is the true condition of human
nature. The sooner that is recognized, the better society will
become.
Those who are most likely to read this commentary tend to be
interested in academic subjects, social theories, and the arts and
sciences. They gravitate toward each other and usually avoid people
outside their social and economic class.
Most people, however, are not
the least interested in these subjects. Most people tend to be
restricted to their own social circles, rarely interacting with people far
outside their sphere. The wealthy associate mostly with their peers,
the poor with the poor, and people in the middle with their neighbors.
Most people are only peripherally interested in the larger society,
and only on certain occasions. Otherwise, the things they care about are less
intellectual. They involve themselves in everyday tasks, in making
money, in seeking pleasure. Most people, in all classes, show some
degree of dishonesty, and among the poor, they tend to be more physically
violent, and more abruptly so, than people of comfortable
means. Exceptions abound, but they are, after all, exceptions.
The poor tend to be less educated than the economic higher
classes, a fact that further increases their tendency toward
poverty. Those among the poor who strive to become better educated
are often stymied in their efforts, first by educators whose personal
self-interest competes with their students, and even by the culture of poverty,
where learning is disdained as "acting white" or some version
thereof.
One altruistic teacher who visited some of his seemingly
intelligent but poorly performing minority students was dismayed by the chaotic
environment of inner-city poverty. Amid the cacophony of music and
violence, it was all but impossible to focus on study. There was no
realistic escape from those circumstances.
Out-of-wedlock motherhood is well known to be a severe disabling
factor that impedes upward mobility, and it is exacerbated by loosening
standards of sexual morality.
Among the upper economic classes, the disconnection with the lower
classes is profound. Many people in the upper group
promote theories that seem to them to be commonsense solutions to poverty but
only make matters worse. They are no more moral or hardworking than
those in the lower class, but they can more easily find social environments
conducive to their wellbeing.
In the middle, the average working man has little time or energy
remaining after hours in which to actively involve himself in his
community. He tends to be far more interested in sports than in
politics, far more likely to visit bars and nightclubs than libraries, and
sadly willing to abdicate his parental responsibilities to a corrupt education
system and government.
Drug addiction and alcohol abuse have greatly increased the morbid
behavior of large numbers of people in all classes. These social
ills are literally killing tens of thousands of people and ruining the lives of
their loved ones. Especially tragic is the incidence of child
neglect and worse.
Government cannot resolve these
issues and indeed often makes them worse. Its liberal activists have
led the way downward, and they intend to increase their efforts on the infamous
"road to perdition."
As a nation, and
with President Trump at the helm, we have finally reached that proverbial
crossroads, that moment in which truth must finally shine its light, or else
deception will darken the world for generations to come.
I sense that the
wheat is about to be separated from the chaff, and the uncommitted must finally
take up arms for one side or the other. There will be no neutrality.
Warning to those
of us on the right: The Left already knows all this, and leftists are preparing
for the final battle. For our side, there is no shortage of advice
from our founding fathers, concerning how best to rise victorious from the
imminent conflict. Here is one among many:
A general dissolution of principles and manners will more
surely overthrow the liberties of America than the whole force of the common
enemy. While the people are virtuous they cannot be subdued; but when once they
lose their virtue then will be ready to surrender their liberties to the first
external or internal invader.
—Samuel Adams, letter to James Warren, February 12, 1779
https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2019/06/the_divisions_among_americans_are_reaching_a_tipping_point.html