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Entry: Greenspan's Gambits Link: http://www.takimag.com/site/article/greenspans_gambits#5731 Post contents: Joe Populist, you say my mention of how illegitimate births have skyrocketed in the black community in consequence of the perverse incentives given by the welfare state is 'racist.' Let me ask you - does a 75% rate of out-of-wedlock births serve the black community well? Do you think it is a good thing? I don't find fault with black welfare mothers so much as I do with the liberal politicians who devised the programs that brought their situation into being. I'm not sure whether the programs were well-meaning mistakes, or were undertaken as a deliberate move to create a reliably dependent constituency for the politicians who essentially use taxpayers' money to buy the votes of people on the dole. It doesn't really matter; the consequences have been terrible. The scriptural passages you cite commending charity to the poor do not suggest that government should compel it. Voluntary almsgiving is urged upon those who have the capacity to do it, not for the good of the recipient, but for the spiritual benefit of the giver. Do you suppose that someone who was made to accept baptism or marriage by force would derive any sacramental benefit from them? Of course not - and neither would they be canonically valid. Similarly, charity exacted by force is no charity at all. I'm sure you do not have the slightest concern for the spiritual welfare of the people you deride as the "CEO classes, trust fund babies, and the Park Avenue set" (a group which, by the way, includes the esteemed Taki, host of this forum). No - what you are expressing is plain old envy for people who are economically better off than you, and a covetousness, disguised as a so-called 'populist' agenda, of assets belonging to those people, which you would like government to confiscate and spend in ways you consider desirable. The last time I looked, envy and covetousness were still cardinal sins. Finally, I am not asking you for "tolerance and respect." I'm asking that you conduct your part of this dialogue with civility, as I have mine. Resorting to personal abuse merely reveals a deficit in one's debating skills. If you wish to display before the readers of this forum how bereft of civility you are, that will serve only to damage their respect for you. Sent at: 2008 11 22