From: mykes@amiga0.SF-Bay.ORG (Mike Schwartz)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh
Subject: Re: EQUITY and Barbara Jordan
Distribution: world
X-NewsSoftware: GRn 1.16e (7/4/92) by Mike Schwartz & Michael B. Smith
Date: 20 Jul 92 17:49:28 PST
Organization: Amiga makes it possible

In article <nate.360@psygate.psych.indiana.edu> nate@psygate.psych.indiana.edu (Nathan Engle) writes:
>     And to me, the Democrats are the ones with the *pragmatic* sense of
> fairness and justice. I see a lot of Republicans talk about how,
> theoretically, our society provides an equal chance for everybody, but
> I see many instances in which that theory isn't worth the electrons used
> to transmit it.
>

Republicans KNOW that there is opportunity and fairness in this country.
Certainly enough for absolutely ANYONE from any background to be very
sucessful (by US standards).  But the motivation MUST be there to
"prod" people into action.  It sure seems easy for a penniless immigrant
boat person to become rich than it does for a lot of people who have
been living in the US for generations.  What is the democratic "pragmatic"
answer to this enigma?  People aren't smart enough or motivated enough to
do for themselves, so we must force people who are to carry the load.

What is the republican "pragmatic" answer to this enigma?  Education
reform.  Enterprise Zones.  Welfare Reform.

Education Reform.  We have an educational system that has not revitalized
or rejeuvenated itself since the 50s (new math).  The kind of education
reforms that are needed are those that teach kids how to take advantage
of opportunities (other than the opportunity to use a condom :) that come
to everyone everyday.  I submit to you that you could take a rich person,
other than a lottery winner, and take away all his money and assets.  In
5 years he will be a rich person still.  What he KNOWs, what his education
consists of, is what needs to be widely taught.  Pumping even more money
into our educational system as it exists today is NOT the solution.  The
feds should not be spending any money at all on general education (the
states should tax and pay for this) except on experimental basis.  In order
to teach the principles of success, you need teachers who know WHAT to
teach.  In order to attract these teachers, it doesn't take money, but it
does take REWARD for those people.  I would be happy to teach for a lot
less than I make in industry, but I would not be happy to teach a bunch
of kids who believe they have no future and won't try.  My reward would
be to see 80% of my graduates go on to higher education and sucessful
careers (instead of gang leadership or whatever).

Enterprise Zones.  Funny how Reagan propsed these 10 years ago, Bush
has been proposing them all along (in legislation that never has
left congressional committees), and now Clinton is proposing the
same.  I wrote earlier about South Shore, in Chicago, where the poor
blacks in a neighborhood revitalized the place without government
support.  These people should be rewarded (hence motivated) to spread
their knowledge and winning/proven formula as far as they can.

Welfare Reform.  The problem with welfare, as it is implemented now,
is that it is anti-motivational and is only useful for perpetuating
the plight of the people that require this assistance.  If you can
make close to, on welfare, what you'd make at a real job, you will
likely choose welfare.  Additionally, a person who is on welfare
who also manages to save money for retirement, education of their
children, or otherwise getting out of the cycle of poverty are
punished - all the money they save is taken away, they are fined,
and even sent to jail.  It makes more sense to increase the payments
to these people so they can save even more and eventually not need
the payments at all.


> --
> Nathan Engle                        Software Juggler
> Psychology Department               Indiana University
> nate@psygate.psych.indiana.edu      nengle@copper.ucs.indiana.edu

--
Amiga programmer of: GRn, MailMinder, Budokan, Beyond Dark Castle, Dark Castle
Sega Genesis programmer of: Dick Tracy and Marble Madness.
Mike Schwartz  (ames!zorch!amiga0!mykes or mykes@amiga0.sf-bay.org)
1124 Fremont Ave.
Los Altos, CA 94024