Dear George,
While I have no love for Bill Clinton, I do admire they way he shut down America’s welfare system. He ushered in a bracing new era that emphasized personal responsibility rather than dependency. Welfare and especially Aid to Dependent Children (ADC) was sapping America’s moral fiber.
A robust doctrine of Social Darwinism cannot coexist with a properly funded safety net. A nation is strong only when the fittest survive. We are responsible for the choices we make. I, for example, “chose” a life of poverty and obedience in order to serve you. If I need a hit of meth from time to time to ease the pain of my calling, I don’t blame society when my teeth started falling out. Nor do I demand a system of universal health care to replace them.
So, if a child chooses to be born into a life of poverty, why should the honest, hard working taxpayer pay for his upkeep? Let the babe take personal responsibility for its own birth.
Of course, we both know this whole idea of “personal responsibility” is a scam. It assumes that all choices are rational. It would have us believe that a person carefully weighs the pros and cons of a decision and after a careful study of the pluses and minuses elects to live a life of poverty. The implication is that having chose a life of poverty, he can just as easily reverse his rational decision and choose a life of prosperity, instead. Anyone can make it in America with hard work and good connections. The poor are poor because they choose to be poor.
What bullshit! There is no choice; there is only an ongoing process of adjusting to changing circumstances. Those born poor stay poor; those born rich stay rich. The days of upward mobility are over.
But, the dogma of personal responsibility lives on. Believing that the poor are responsible for their poverty makes it easier to ignore their pain and suffering. After all, they are the ones guaranteed a place in heaven. Your rich cronies are the camels.
Your admirer,
Belacqua Jones
4:58:51 AM 
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