At a time when our country is sick it shouldnt surprise that one our sickest places is our nations capital.
The poverty rate of Washington DC almost 20 percent is one of the highest in the nation. Its child poverty rate is the nations highest..
DCs public school system with a graduation rate of less than 50 percent is one of the worst in the country.
According to DCs 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 Americas 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 Washingtons 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 indispensible 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 DCs 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 68000 of the citys 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 DCs poor?
No. He just has different priorities. More important to him and more important to DCs 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 nations capital city transform officially into Sodom.
Star Parker is the founder and president of CURE the Coalition for Urban Renewal & Education a 501c3 think tank which explores and promotes market based public policy to fight poverty as well as author of White Ghetto: How Middle Class America Reflects Inner City Decay.
At a time when our country is sick it shouldnt surprise that one our sickest places is our nations capital.
The poverty rate of Washington DC almost 20 percent is one of the highest in the nation. Its child poverty rate is the nations highest..
DCs public school system with a graduation rate of less than 50 percent is one of the worst in the country.
According to DCs 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 Americas 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 Washingtons 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 indispensible 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 DCs 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 68000 of the citys 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 DCs poor?
No. He just has different priorities. More important to him and more important to DCs 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 nations capital city transform officially into Sodom.
Star Parker is the founder and president of CURE the Coalition for Urban Renewal & Education a 501c3 think tank which explores and promotes market based public policy to fight poverty as well as author of White Ghetto: How Middle Class America Reflects Inner City Decay.
