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The seeds of today’s madness were planted decades ago

Political journalist Doug Ross yesterday re-posted an essay he had written a decade ago, which had successfully predicted the crime wave we are undergoing today.

In it, he outlined how the growth in 2011 in government anti-poverty and welfare programs — which acted to further tear apart families — was going to lead to what he called “a true Obama Crime Wave” sometime in the early 2020s.

  • Fact: There are a record number of Americans dependent upon government anti-poverty programs thanks to the Obama Democrats
  • Fact: Expanded access to welfare and food stamps greatly increases the number of children born to unwed mothers
  • Fact: Single-parent families correlate to higher crime rates
  • Conclusion: with the unprecedented increase in welfare, food stamps and unemployment, we will also see an unparalleled increase in violent crime within the next dozen or so years.

Obama and his Democrat sycophants in Congress will have created hundreds of thousands of single-parent families. These kids, born out-of-wedlock, will find themselves trapped in lives of criminality at far higher rates than kids from two-parent families.

Fast forward a dozen years, give or take a couple, and we will see a true Obama Crime Wave. I predict that we will see an unprecedented increase in crime. In fact, you could call it historic.

And the question is not whether it will happen. The question is just how bad it will be.

Ross’s prediction in 2011 was of course guaranteed to be right, as good social science research since the early and mid-twentieth century had shown that if you raise children in broken homes, chaos ensues when they reach adulthood.

I think however that Ross and most previous researchers have missed half the equation. Broken homes certainly produce adults who don’t know right from wrong, and thus become hardened and violent criminals.

However, broken homes also produce adults who become politicians and lawyers and entertainers and businessmen, and though these individuals might not be violent criminals, they themselves no longer can conceive and put forth policies that encourage the rule of law and a truly just society. We can see this fact in the effort during the past two years by Democratic Party politicians to “defund the police” and to eliminate all bail, thus giving criminals a free rein in the states and cities run by Democrats. These politicians might sincerely believe these policies will reduce crime, but they do so because they themselves no longer have good judgment. They have been raised in a society of broken homes, and carry with them that curse into adulthood.

The worst aspect of this social tragedy is its long term consequences. You can’t fix this by simply ending the bad social policies from the past. The adults raised under them still exist, and still do not have the emotional training to build a civilized world, or even maintain a secure two-parent family for their own children. Their children are likely going to be broken as well, no matter what the government policy. Chaos will remain, and it will continue to wreck its havoc for many more decades.

We have truly entered the next dark age, and it will take the painful effort of every mature and properly raised individual to turn things around. And most important, if we succeed in recovering our civilization we all must recognize that this righteous effort will not bear fruit in our lifetimes. It is for the generations to come, possible one to two hundred years in the future.

Genesis cover

On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.

 
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"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News

26 comments

  • Cotour

    And here it is expressed in our culture at the “highest” levels:

    https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory/smith-confronts-chris-rock-oscars-stage-comedian-makes-83711974?msclkid=c4b31824aebd11ecbe731ef856f5ed55

    The Liberal Leftist poisoning and debasing of our society and culture by Hollywood and those in political power who seek power and control.

    Plain and simple.

  • Edward

    About that same time, a decade ago, a movie called “Freakonomics” came out (yes, based upon the two famous books, and yes based upon research done by the same economists, Levitt and Dubner), which concluded that a decline in crime in New York, a decade ago, was not due to improved policing under conservative leaders, but due to the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court case, which resulted in a reduction of the number of children raised by welfare mothers, reducing the number of people at the highest crime ages and demographics.

    As Doug Ross points out, Obamanomics created more children raised by welfare mothers, but those born under Obama’s watch are not yet at the age to be committing many crimes. Although I concede that older welfare children have become that age, I think another change is important to consider as a major contributing factor.

    What has changed, however, is police policy, especially in the cities that favored Obama and Obamanomics over work, law and order, and freedom. Defunding the police, not enforcing theft laws, and making it harder for police to do their jobs is a major factor in many Obama cities. San Francisco recently lost a major store chain, because it could no longer afford the losses from massive shoplifting. Los Angeles is seeing train robberies on a tremendous scale, Nationally, arrests of criminal illegal aliens has dropped, encouraging even more crime from those who already disrespect our laws.

    I think that Levitt and Dubner got it wrong, that police policy has more to do with crime than welfare, which explains why the crime rate climbed so dramatically, these past two years, after police policies were dramatically altered away from fighting crime.

    Marxist, left-wing policies are failing us in many more areas, too.

    Let’s Go Brandon!

  • Lee S

    I genuinely find this post quite offensive… And snowflake that I am, I will report you…
    Actually, no, instead of getting butt hurt, I will argue my corner…
    I am the product of a “broken home”… My parents divorced when I was 14… I didn’t become violent or a criminal.. I continued with my life and although I have not become as wealthy as I wished for,.I have a good, fulfilling life, provide for my children, and even tho they also come from a “broken home” they are growing into thoughtful and considerate adults.
    The main problem you have over in the US is that there is no social safety net, and most of you don’t believe that there should be. Then you complain when children raised in poverty turn to crime.
    If you put a little more into the pot to raise the most underprivileged in your society up a notch or two,.then you would see crime decrease dramatically, there is.undoubtably many a street thug that if they had been given a break would be working on wall Street now.

    I know most of you here don’t understand my socialist thinking… But this subject is a real life example of how a more socialist, caring society could both improve your, and the poor,. potential criminals lives. A penny spared is a penny saved. Spend a bit more on social welfare over there and the rewards will speak for themselves.

  • Lee S

    @Edward
    You had 4 years of Trump…. As far as I can tell from over here sleepy Joe ain’t changed much in.the last couple of years.. A massively right leaning supreme court…

    And your still complaining…. Rather than griping, as do many here do, do you have any solutions? And if so, why not run for office?

    So very many armchair politicians over there…. So very few willing to step up and do something other than complain

  • Jeff Wright

    I don’t mind a safdty net-the GI bill didn’t required fathers leave their homes….that fatherlessness set this cycle off

  • Lee S

    @ Jeff Wright

    Really? I have no knowledge of this.,… Please elaborate.

  • Cotour

    Lee S:

    If you really want to understand what is what on this subject listen to Thomas Sowell: https://youtu.be/nUVg1h2M85s

    “I am the product of a “broken home”… My parents divorced when I was 14… I didn’t become violent or a criminal..”

    “The main problem you have over in the US is that there is no social safety net, and most of you don’t believe that there should be. Then you complain when children raised in poverty turn to crime.”

    The Democrat party has systematically effectively destroyed the black family in America and that is what this is all about. What do you think “It Takes A Village” means?

    The Democrat party has primarily crafted the usurping of the black family and proposes to replace it with the government and the culture of dependency on it.

    0 or so years ago the black family was comprised of about 80% intact family units with a mother and a father in the house. Today that is reversed.

    And PS: Mr. Sowell in his 20’s was a full blown Marxist. Where does his extreme reversal come from in his politics? He got a job as an economist for the government. I suggest if you really want to understand this subject you sudy Mr. Sowell, it may do you some good.

  • Edward

    Jeff Wright,
    You wrote: “I don’t mind a safdty net-the GI bill didn’t required fathers leave their homes….that fatherlessness set this cycle off

    That fatherless cycle was enabled by the abuse of our safety-net system. Rather than accept welfare, food stamps, etc. for a limited time while getting back on her feet, a woman could now replace a father with the government, so that she has an income without the hassle of dealing with a man. It is just like the “Life of Julia” Obama Campaign, a decade ago. Julia may not have needed a man, but her child did. Julia just didn’t realize it, because she thought the government was daddy enough for her family. Instead, Julia taught her child to be dependent upon “daddy” rather than build a family. Getting handouts can result in dependency on those handouts, resulting in demands for more handouts.

    The multigenerational welfare children are taught that the rich become rich by stealing from the poor (how does that work, when the poor don’t have anything to steal), and choose to try to get rich through crime, too.

    The GI bill, on the other hand, made men into better earners and better able to support their families. No wonder you didn’t mind that safety net. People graduated, got jobs, left the net, and built a better America in the 1950s and 1960s. The other “safety net” destroyed it, because too many people stayed in the net, getting paid to not work and to not raise children who would work for a living, instead turning to crime for supplementary income.

    No wonder Americans aren’t taking farming jobs. Why work hard when the government will pay you to not work at all?

    Let’s Go Brandon!

  • Cotour

    Should have read:

    60 or so years ago the black family was comprised of about 80% intact family unit with both a mother and a father in the house. Today that is reversed its only 20%.

    The Democrats see the black American as theirs, they own them and their vote.

    And that is what its all about. Just like the opening of the southern border is about buttressing their voting base because to some degree the black American is realizing what the Democrats have been up to and that they are their biggest problem today.

  • Cotour

    Victor Davis Hansen:

    “The prophets of the new world order sowed the wind and they will soon reap the whirlwind of an angry public worn out by elite incompetence, arrogance, and ignorance.”

    Mr. Davis is primarily talking about the Democrat party machine, the RINO’s and the multinational corporate entities that are no longer connected to their American roots and have long ago traded it for pure profits.

    Lee S, are you paying attention? Keep watching.

  • Col Beausabre

    “These politicians might sincerely believe these policies will reduce crime,”

    They did reduce crime. A number of acts were downgraded from felonies to misdemeanors, and misdemeanors decriminalized. POOF! Instant lower crime rate.

    “Figures don’t lie, but liars figure”

    “The individual source of the statistics may easily be the weakest link. Harold Cox tells a story of his life as a young man in India. He quoted some statistics to a Judge, an Englishman, and a very good fellow. His friend said, Cox, when you are a bit older, you will not quote Indian statistics with that assurance. The Government are very keen on amassing statistics—they collect them, add them, raise them to the nth power, take the cube root and prepare wonderful diagrams. But what you must never forget is that every one of those figures comes in the first instance from the chowty dar [chowkidar] (village watchman), who just puts down what he pleases.” – Josiah Stamp

  • wayne

    Lee–
    –semi-retired mental-health caseworker here (worked government (State & County), non-profit, and for- profit)–>

    Ref: “The main problem you have over in the US is that there is no social safety net,”

    Dude! We have quite the “safety net” here, and it’s getting more elaborate by the year.
    One of our newer entitlements is the (refundable) child tax credit; $3000 per child, per year. ($3,600 for children below age 6.)

    FYI– “Poverty level” for (Federal) entitlements is roughly $12K per year. At that level, you qualify for SNAP (food stamps,), Medicaid (health ‘insurance’) Section 8 (and derivatives) housing assistance (pays your rent), Lifeline Phone Service–pays for your free cell phones (we spend $8 billon/year on phones for the ‘poor’), Head Start– free daycare for the ‘poor’,’ etc., etc., etc.

    How Empathy Kinda Works –
    Grapes of Wrath Diner Scene
    https://youtu.be/9jxLp9PHvDQ
    2:40

  • John hare

    It is not the lack of a safety net, but rather the perversion of the safety net. And it goes back decades through administration of both parties. Over four decades ago I did the stupid and got a girl pregnant in a new relationship. She chose the government over working with me on building a life Plus she was able to party on after me with various others. We happen to be Caucasian. The destruction goes on. It’s not no net, it’s a destruction net. Still bitter.

  • Ian C.

    Lee S,

    I didn’t become violent or a criminal.

    Worse, you became a socialist. Someone with a halo who makes the state violate people on his behalf. Very clever. ;)

  • Cotour

    Lee S (and anyone else who needs a reality check regarding America, the black family and how the government “Helps”)

    Larry Elder and Denzel: https://youtu.be/FVHelUPWBdk “If a boy has no father in the home, he will find one in the streets”.

    Those in politics have leveraged the black family by fostering the culture of dependency to their own ends in order to acquire and retain their political power, plain and simple. Their alleged Morality and good intentions have been fashioned into a political sword and a weapon to slay their opponents. And that is their Strategy.

    And in doing so they have once again enslaved those who they profess to be dedicated to helping. The Democrat party sees the black population as being theirs, but they are to some degree waking up much to the chagrin of those Democrats.

    And how do the Democrats intend to bolster their ranks as the black population in America awakens? Why do you think Americas Southern border day one under the Biden administration has been thrown wide open to all who seek that same culture of dependency and some measure of a better life for themselves and their families?

    Why are the powers that be more concerned with the borders of Ukraine and not Americas borders?

    That is a rhetorical question, now you know the answer.

  • Cotour

    Lee S, a little more:

    Thomas Sowell on “Social Degeneration”: https://youtu.be/bpA3Sf6Ffu4

  • Alex Andrite

    ” The Closing of the American Mind “.

  • Edward

    We Americans still believe in a safety net, we just don’t like it when rather than be used to catch those who fall, until they get back on their feet, it is abused as a hammock so that they don’t bother to get on their feet, as John hare noted.

  • sippin_bourbon

    “Came from a broken home. My parents divorced at 14”
    First, I am sorry you had to endure that. But you still had 14 years.
    Question, When they split, were both parents still an active role in your life, or did one of them ghost you completely?

    Where you had 14 years, many here have zero.
    And then they grow up, and have kids, and they have zero years with a father as well.

    We are told by the oh so wise left not to be critical, that do to so is insulting to single mom’s that work so hard.
    This is fallacy. One can be critical of an absent parent without demeaning the parent that is present.

    I have seen personally where young teen girls are told to get pregnant and have a baby so “they can get their check”.
    Quite literally, the child is worth more as a claim to handout money.

    But we are told by the oh so wise left that no one wants to be on welfare, or will have babies just for money.

    Young men are 2nd or 3rd generation absent fathers. The life lessons and models of how to be a parent are lost. The cycle repeats. Children grow not knowing who their father is. Men live, not knowing if they have children, or how many. They do not care.

    We are told by the oh so wise left that this is just “their culture” (African American) where children are raised by the community, not just a mom and dad.
    If that were true, single parenthood would be higher in Africa.
    It is higher in the US.
    https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/12/12/u-s-children-more-likely-than-children-in-other-countries-to-live-with-just-one-parent/

    As said above, there is a safety net here. We spend billions a year on it.
    We spend billions on an education system that is completely crushed under the weight of a teachers union. It fails children everywhere, but we are told by the oh so wise left, just spend more.

    Everyday on tik tok and twitter we see teachers that just want to tell the class about their latest journey into homosexuality or transgenderism, instead of reading, writing and arithmetic. Apparently knowing what they like to put in their butts is the life lesson that is going to earn them high paying jobs, according to the oh so wise left.

    I am stopping here. I am tired of this debate. Be offended if you want. I really do not care.

  • bill

    Yes, the Democrats together with accomplice RINO’s are responsible for a lot of disasters, with more to come. But luckily for them they don’t have to take responsibility or apologize. Because being liberal means never having to say you’re sorry. Or even to admit that their policies had anything to do with it. The defund the police movement was a tragic example.

  • Lee S

    I think the main problem here is that your social safety net appears, from over here, to be essentially flawed. In the UK, and I believe in Sweden ( I have never been out of work in Sweden) to claim unemployment benefits you must prove you are actively seeking work. The state also provides help with seeking employment, help with creating a CV, providing re-training, etc.
    The education system is excellent, and state sponsored, being from a poor background is no barrier to bettering yourself.
    Daycare from 18 months is also state sponsored, meaning that having children is no barrier to finding work.
    Tax pounds and krona going to good, and visible use.

    Of course there will always be a minority that finds a way to abuse any system, but better to accept that the majority of the underprivileged will benefit and become assets, than to remove the safety net and abandon those that need it.

    If all the comments above are correct, the problem is not with the concept of a safety net, but with the US’s implementation.

  • Cotour

    “I think the main problem here is that your social safety net appears, from over here, to be essentially flawed. ”

    ” the problem is not with the concept of a safety net, but with the US’s implementation.”

    Now you are beginning to get it.

    The implementation is about supporting the parasitic programs and the political parties that benefit from them and NOT about truly helping anyone. It is perverted, corrupt and needs to be drastically reworked or eliminated for the most part.

    But that will never happen to any great extent because of just how dependent the Democrats are on it. This is the foundation of how the culture of dependency is paid for and expended. Ever expending until it encompasses all and everyone in some capacity and they either works for it or are taxed to pay for it.

    The culture of dependency is evil.

  • Edward

    To add to my comment: “[our safety net] is abused as a hammock

    This is what happens when we let the socialists run things. They think that it is OK for safety nets to be long-term solutions for individuals and families. It began with FDR, but LBJ designed the basic version of our current hammock. Los Angeles has extended and expanded their hammock and are discovering that people are coming from all around to freeload at their expense. Will they change their ways or just increase the taxes on their poor workers?

  • max dugan

    …..yup…and i can tell you from experience that nobody was listening then either. The left started [deleted] this country over with McCarthy and haven’t let up since…and it is time to make them pay the price.

  • max dugan: You are new here so easily forgiven, but I do not tolerate obscene language. Just because you delete a few letters from a four-letter word makes no difference. You are using it to express anger rather than speaking as a civilized adult.

    I have deleted it. You are still welcome to comment but I will suspend you the next time.

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