We live in a country that is so galvanaized and polarized as to be laughable. Our side taking and insane cultural polarization allows for a seperation of goals that should be in the national interest. It allows those in power or those who want to achieve power to play on our baser instincts and to use what should be our shared interest against us. How is it that a leading conservative figure can make a statement that school children could replace janitors in schools and this recommendation get applauded. At best this statement is offensive to custodiens or janitors in schools who sometimes do dangerous unappealing jobs most of the time for low pay and very little respect. At worst this is an insult to all school children especially the poor. By any measure students who work and attend school do poorer than those that dont. So not only do they have a gap in terms of income but they also have a disadvantage as their study time is now cut because of working hours.
Gingrich's assertion is that poor people dont have the necessary work ethic to compete in the national economy. But this is just that an assertion. There is ZERO evidence that this is true. Not one study shows this is true. What is actually the case is that those from poor or disadvantaged school systems probably come from neighborhoods where there are no jobs or who have very high unemployment rates. Its not that they dont want to work it is that no jobs are available. Work ethic is not something that these people have to be taught. Being raised in a house where your parents or parent is forced to work two or three jobs just to keep the lights on and the water flowing is usually enough to make someone want to do anything to alleviate their situation.We have allowed the conservatives and the politically powerful to call all of the shots. They have captured the public psyche and turned what should be virtues into poison. They have built up black strawmen to beat down. Ronald Reagen decried welfare queens and denied the role of government in alleviating poverty and societal ills. As if anything other than a society should be used to fix the problems with that society. We should be trying to alleviate poverty through fair and reasonable public policy and a national consensus that their is a problem and a national dedication to fix it.
The problem is that we have started to denigrate the poor and needy. It is easy for Newt Gingrich to make these kinds of assertions because no conservative would deny his premise. There is no political cost for this outright racism. In fact is probably a positive in conservative politics. Almost all conservatives believe that it is your fault that you are poor and the government is being corruptive and evil in trying to fix this thru monetary policy or progressive public policy. Asking rich people to shoulder a heaver burden is class warfare and they should not have to help the poor if they do not want to. Anything more is socialism. We have lost a basic sense of community and compassion that used to be the fabric of American society. Give Me Your Tired Your Poor Your Needy was a mantra that we actually stood for. Now it rings hollow in my ears everytime I hear it.