Tuesday, November 08, 2011

First Paragraph

I once asked a mother on food stamps what she would do without them. "I'd get a husband," she replied matter-of-factly. Here was news, I thought - a tantalizing bit of evidence of welfare's corrosive effect on the inner-city family. But when I recounted this exchange in an article for one of the nation's most influential newspapers, the editor ordered me to leave it out. Quoting it, he said, would "stigmatize the poor."

- From The Burden of Bad Ideas by Heather Mac Donald

2 comments:

Dan in Philly said...

I'`m currently reading "Seven Roman Statesmen of the Later Republic" by CWC Oman (copyright 1902! you'd like it, Michael) and Oman gets into quite a bit of detail on the corrosive effect of the grain dole installed by demagogues. Once in place, it was impossible to eradicate, and it engendered a class of loafers and rabble, who would frequently be incited to mob and riot - i.e. a perfect power source of the democrat party (not the modern word, but the democrats who warred with the elites for control of the Roman government).

Someone once said history doesn't repeat itself, but it does rime :)

Michael Wade said...

Dan,

Thanks for the book tip. I'll definitely check it out.

Michael