This, and Democracy Reform
From Kristof's column today in the Times:
So the best monument to the catastrophe in New Orleans would be a serious national effort to address the poverty that afflicts the entire country. And in our shock and guilt, that might be politically feasible. Rich Lowry of The National Review, in defending Mr. Bush, offered an excellent suggestion: "a grand right-left bargain that includes greater attention to out-of-wedlock births from the Left in exchange for the Right's support for more urban spending." That would be the best legacy possible for Katrina.Another constructive outlet for the emotional power of this tragedy should be, in my view, a new commitment to reforming our democracy so we have responsive government in tune with the nation's priorities. I'll be writing a column on this subject that will appear in next Sunday's Eagle.
posted by Bill at 7:08 AM
3 Comments:
You want government reform? You want to change the way the government assists the poor? Is this the LEFT admitting that Welfare hasn't worked? Hallelujah!
I don't think the debate is even about "welfare" anymore. It's about economic policies that promote economic growth that benefits *everyone*, not just those at the top.
The numbers are very plain from the past four years -- once overall "growth" returned last year, we saw that it didn't bring increased wages, just more and more for the investor class.
We have to pay more attention to what's really going on in the economy, not just the misleading, topline figures politicians like to trumpet. I've written several columns about this, and certainly will write more.
--B
I heard Limbaugh saying that it's all about the welfare state we created...which may or may not be true. That can be examined later, but in the meantime it's the law of the land and the commitment we made to those people.
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