To Rehabilitate the "Culture" - As if on cue, USA Today provides an example of why the "culture" of the African American underclass is so in need of repair, as discussed elsewhere. The article speaks to several pathologies, all of which originated from and are nurtured by liberalism's "bigotry of lowered expectations." To summarize, a school in Baltimore struggles to keep students motivated to attend class. The story centers around Mariya, a 15-year old girl who is expecting her first child. Her single mother, a 31-year old who lives in a Baltimore housing project, insists that Mariya will not drop out of school, saying that Mariya's dropping out "is not an option."

I encourage everyone to read this story, as it fairly drips with the sour milk of liberalism's inevitable failings. As you read, ask yourself how it became acceptable, or even possible - particularly given the abundance of sex education and in-school contraception - for a teen to become a mother, as such a thing would be unthinkable in other communities. Then ask how it is that a school system that has a 4 in 10 graduation rate is allowed to remain in existence. Finally, try to figure out what has contributed to a multi-generational spiral of dysfunction, with Mariya becoming a mother at 15 and her mother becoming a grandmother at 31. (Mariya's grandmother lives with them as well, and will be a great-grandmother at 49.)

Despite tinkering at the margins, as it pertains to education and employment opportunities for the African American underclass, progressives have "stayed the course" for decades -with calamitous results. Solutions are in short supply, but to quote Mariya's mother, it is clear that the status quo "is not an option."

P.S.: Some of you may be wondering why I refer to black "culture," as if such a thing were borderline oxymoronic. I would submit that rather than exhibiting the most significant hallmark of a culture: namely, serving as a means by which people can adapt to their environment, the black "culture" of today serves more as an identity by which people can stereotype themselves. Indeed, if we accept the formulation of John McWhorter, as described in his book Winning the Race, the main drivers of intergenerational poverty and dysfunction are not economic, but cultural, that being a culture of what he calls "therapeutic alienation" from all behaviors seen as stereotypically "white," to include the worlds of work and education. We will discuss this more in future posts.