Making Problems Worse
Fixing what ails this nation is not always a matter of correcting the problems that exist. It also entails not making these problems worse through the imposition of harmful new cultural redesigns.
The following article by Star Parker is an example of exactly the kind of progressive politically based cultural redesign that will be another nail in America’s coffin.
The following is Star Williams’ article in it entirety:
Sodom In The Nation’s Capital
At a time when our country is sick, it shouldn’t surprise that one our sickest places is our nation’s capital.
The poverty rate of Washington, DC, almost 20 percent, is one of the highest in the nation. Its child poverty rate is the nation’s highest..
DC’s public school system, with a graduation rate of less than 50 percent, is one of the worst in the country.
According to DC’s HIV/AIDS office, three percent of the local population has HIV or AIDS. The Administrator of this office notes that this HIV/AIDS incidence is “…higher than West Africa…on par with Uganda and some parts of Kenya.” And the principal way that HIV is transmitted continues to be through male homosexual activity.
Amidst this dismal picture, the DC City Council, perhaps on the theory that serving up another glass of wine is the way to help a drunk, is scheduled to vote on December 1 to legalize same sex marriage in America’s capital city.
Looking at realities in Washington, DC should make clear why George Washington said “Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports.”
But the America that our first president had in mind was very different from the vision of our DC government officials.
George Washington’s America was one in which the point of freedom is to allow Man to rise to what he can become. To do this, the greatest challenge he faces is conquering himself. To rise above his baser instincts, to rise above the many temptations that lead him astray. And to achieve this end, as Washington said, “religion and morality are indispensably supports.”
In left-wing America, of which the DC government is a poster child, freedom means to indulge every instinct that the tradition and religion of George Washington would have us overcome.
Where does it lead? Well, look at DC.
It is tempting to look at DC’s realities and just call this a black thing. And by and large it is.
DC is largely black — almost 60 percent. Its poverty is black poverty. Its public school system serves mostly black children. And its AIDS crisis is mostly among blacks.
But the pathologies that strike the weakest parts of our population most brutally are nonetheless pathologies of the nation.
The Brookings Institution is one of our oldest policy institutes and certainly no bastion of conservatism. But in a recently published volume, Brookings scholars Ron Haskins and Isabel Sawhill point out the centrality of the traditional family to the American dream of opportunity and the centrality of family breakdown to poverty.
Reporting data showing the general breakdown of the traditional American family, they say, “Some claim that anyone who is concerned about these trends is simply out of touch with modern culture; we respond that, if that be the case, then, “modern culture is out of touch with the needs of children.”
The Catholic Archdiocese of DC announced that legalization of same sex marriage would make it impossible to continue its relationship with the DC government and require termination of the social services it provides to some 68,000 of the city’s poor — including about one third of its homeless. The reaction of DC council member David Catania was essentially “so what.” According to him, “their services are not indispensable.”
Is Catania out of touch with the needs of DC’s poor?
No. He just has different priorities. More important to him, and more important to DC’s left wing city council, is advancing moral relativism and the indulgences it feeds.
This is more important to them than feeding the poor or recognizing the values that would get them out of poverty.
It should concern every American as we watch our nation’s capital city transform officially into Sodom.
From Townhall.com by Star Parker
End of Article.
A socioculture that sacrifices its children’s welfare to the trendy gratifications of its adults constructs a path to its own decline.
V. Thomas Mawhinney, Ph.D. 11/23/09
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Tags: aids, America's decline, Brookings Institution, Catholic Archdiocese of DC, DC City Council, Isabel Sawhill, Ron Haskins, same sex marriage, Sodom In The Nation's Capital, Starr Parker, V. Thomas Mawhinney, Washington DC
Cultural Survival Skills 
November 29, 2009 at 11:55 AM |
History has proven over and over again that you can’t legislate morality. Whether a particular group of people are recognized legally or not will have no influence on whether the group exists or not. You seem to assert that the mere legal recognition of homosexuals will suddenly spiral our society to new depths of despair. At best this is another example of baseless slippery slope reasoning. At its worse, it is another example of the hypocrisy of the religious right.
Does not your bible state that ye shall not judge, lest ye be judged? Luke 6:37
Does not your bible state to be kind to one another, forgiving, and tender-hearted? Ephesians 4:32
Does not your bible state that 1/7th of your income should go to the poor? Exodus 23:11
Does not your bible state that you should give fair justice to all? Leviticus 19:15 & Isaiah 1:17
Is not your religion one that believes to best serve The Creator is to extend your heart, your wisdom, your empathy, your love, your generosity, and your service to ALL of His children, regardless of how they were born? Mine is.
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November 30, 2009 at 11:30 AM |
Bruce,
Thanks for speaking out. I admire your integrity and dedication to your code of ethics. I am certain we are in agreement in many areas. Howeer, I cannot join with you in some of your comments on this topic.
Societies legislate morality all of the time. They enforce through laws, consequences, social pressures, the models they hold up, and various codes of conduct all, of the time. These forms of control are always imperfect however. Anthropology has demostrated that even in tightly controlled societies there are many who deviate. In that sense, you are correct when you say, “you can’t legislate morality”. But at a practical level, I think it is always done with varying degrees of succes.
I have not here advocated for the legal exclusion of Gays/Lesbians from anything other than marriage. They are entitled to full protection under the law. I have no problem with civil legal unions for gays and lesbians. I am against the political movement damanding their right to be married. I will say more about this in another venue, soon to come.
“Slippery slopes” are a concern, of course. But I judge the legalization of marriage for gays as a slicker slippery slope than preserving this traditional heterosexual family cornerstone of our society.
Both sides of any issue can have very slippery slopes…but which slippery slope is likely to cause the greatest damage to sociocultural viability? For me, that is the ultimate question.
I try not to “Judge people”. But as a psychologist, I surly judge people’s behavior. I will judge the behavior of people or groups of people to be adaptive and beneficial to them and others, or maladaptive and self-defeating. I will encourage change in directions that I judge to be adaptive and beneficial to them and others.
The Star Williams’ article that I shared, is not an attack on gays or lesbians, blacks or poor people. Rather, it is in support of the precious American traditional institution of marriage and a protest against irresponsible sexual behavior which leads to increased rates of AIDS, children in poverty, and all of the social pathologies that flow from that.
I absolutely support the Catholic Church as it preserves its own moral codes and sets the limits to which it will bend to the hedonistic demands of the secular world.
Finally, I cannot help but note that you are judging other’s behaviors and pressuring them to change in ways that you think are beneficial.
I think this is a good thing to do. Thanks for your comments.
VTM
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November 30, 2009 at 1:35 PM |
Ahh, so your stance is one of your own perceived sense morality and how others should or should not behave. A moral code which you attribute to the Church, (or at least your religion), as being the authority on. I would also assume that you would be delighted if the evil doers, (the lazy poor and homosexuals), were to see the light and adopt your sense of morality.
So look at it this way: What likelihood is there that you will attract others to your sense of morality if you serve up promises of a better way with one hand, and then slap them with the other?
As for legislating morality, I have to respectfully disagree with you. We have laws against murder, yet murder happens. We have laws against theft, yet theft happens. We have laws against vehicular speeding, yet speeding happens. Mere legislation does not induce morality.
I submit that what continues to lack in society is a spiritual sense and sensibility. This leads to morality. This is promoted through example, through outreach, and through family, not via legislation, and certainly not by declaration of righteousness followed by smiting with the other hand.
$.02
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December 3, 2009 at 2:26 PM |
Bruce,
I will not identify with your characterization of my views.
Please see my most recent posting entitled on Good Behavior Vs. Bad Behavior.
I doubt this will satisfy you, but perhaps it is a clearer statement of my position on an important matter.
VTM
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November 23, 2009 at 12:44 PM |
Gay men have sex with too many different partners, so it would seem that promoting monogamy among gay men would be a good thing. And while it might be that a DC council member is out of touch with the needs of the poor, it certainly seems that the Catholic church hierarchy is out of touch with its leader if it thinks that Jesus cares more about prohibiting gay marriage than feeding the poor.
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