The reasons for the burgeoning number of fatherless children in all families with black families being particularly hard hit can be traced to the Progressive policies enacted back in the 1960's under Lyndon B. Johnson. He had his War on Poverty and his Great Society ideas which made matters worse by rewarding mothers for being single parents and encouraging fathers to stay out of the family picture—robbing untold numbers of children of a male figure to protect and guide them in their home. While the goals of reducing poverty are noble on the face of it, the policies were ill thought out and have caused a cruel legacy for the children who were and are born into the homes of women who took advantage of the promise of those programs. The black community has been severely undermined. The government attempted to take the place of the father figure for the generations since these policies were enacted and the results have been nothing short of a disaster for many black families. All families are most secure when there is a solid family unit that strives to do the best for their children and protect them from harm; but, by allowing Uncle Sam to become daddy for their children, they have let the fox in the hen house.
Government uses taxes to punish behavior it wants to see curtailed and it uses entitlements and subsidies to encourage behavior it wants to propagate. This is why Progressives want the people who actually get married to get hit with a tax penalty just for being married and they want to give entitlements to those who have children out of wedlock and never get married.
If we want to encourage responsible behavior among ALL of our citizens, we should get out of the business of using taxes and entitlements to coerce the formation of a society that government thinks is best. Cut out entitlements and personal Income Taxes and replace it with a Consumption tax for everyone. People would once again be rewarded for the labor that they do instead of being punished for it and only pay taxes voluntarily whenever they made a purchase. People would then have more money to spend raising their children or to donate to churches and charities if they so choose which would use that money to help the poor and simultaneously encourage moral behavior that would put an end to the skyrocketing rate of children born out of wedlock.
Our government learned long ago that they had carrot and stick capabilities with taxes, deductions, entitlements, and subsidies. The seeds of Progressivism have begotten rotten fruit and we cannot allow another generation to fall victim.
Well said.
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