"In a previous message Doug Henwood writes:"
>
> US welfare politics just keeps getting more complex. Today's (7/19) Wall
> Street Journal reports that a WSJ/NBC poll finds 53% of blacks and 58% of
> white agreeing that "a declin in moral values is a major reason people
> are on welfare." Does that mean we have to retune the critique?
One of the troubles with the current left critique of welfare is it requires
the acceptance of the premise that Natural Law is a falacy. For instance,
hard work does not reward the just materially when the current international
labor market keeps bidding wages down. You'll have to convince people who
sincerely believe in a 'webberain' moral code, that the rules have changed,
and the agents with the greatest influence on the rules of the game don't
share the majority's moral code.
Interestingly enough, some of the Christian-Fundamentalist right have started
calling some of the establishment right to question on their behavior. Writers
such as _American Spectator_ editor R. Emmett Tyrell have made public mea
culpas about their divorces.
This is tough stuff, and I don't know how to proceed when you have to
convince people with a world view I don't share.
> Incidentally, this info is contained in an article on how the Christian
> Coalition is broadening its appeal beyond white protestants to include
> other races and denominations, especially Catholics. They want to become,
> says organizer Ralph Reed, a true rainbow coalition. This means that the
> easy equivalences of right=racist and multiculti=progressive must be
> rethought, no question mark following.
This didn't need the Christian Coalition to prompt a change in the rhetoric.
Calling the right racist is mean and grossly wrong. The question about the
right is one of worldview and concentration of power.
Good points Doug.
Bill Humphries
PS: After hearing about the fragments of comet Shoemaker-Levy slamming into
Jupiter, President Clinton ordered NASA to aim a comet at Rush Limbaugh. After
all, it worked on one bloated ball of gas.
>
--
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
