Back on Uncle Sam's plantation
Star Parker - Syndicated Columnist - 2/9/2009 8:00:00 AM
Six years ago I wrote a book called Uncle Sam's Plantation. I wrote the
book to tell my own story of what I saw living inside the welfare state and
my own transformation out of it. I said in that book that indeed there are
two Americas -- a poor America on socialism and a wealthy America on
capitalism.

I talked about government programs like Temporary Assistance for Needy
Families (TANF), Job Opportunities and Basic Skills Training (JOBS),
Emergency Assistance to Needy Families with Children (EANF), Section 8
Housing, and Food Stamps. A vast sea of perhaps well-intentioned
government programs, all initially set into motion in the 1960s, that were
going to lift the nation's poor out of poverty.
A benevolent Uncle Sam welcomed mostly poor black Americans onto the
government plantation. Those who accepted the invitation switched mindsets
from "How do I take care of myself?" to "What do I have to do to stay on the
plantation?"
Instead of solving economic problems, government welfare socialism created
monstrous moral and spiritual problems -- the kind of problems that are
inevitable when individuals turn responsibility for their lives over to
others. The legacy of American socialism is our blighted inner cities,
dysfunctional inner city schools, and broken black families.
Through God's grace, I found my way out. It was then that I understood what
freedom meant and how great this country is. I had the privilege of
working on welfare reform in 1996, passed by a Republican Congress and
signed 50 percent. I thought we were on the road to moving socialism out
of our poor black communities and replacing it with wealth-producing
American capitalism.
But, incredibly, we are going in the opposite direction.. Instead of poor
America on socialism becoming more like rich American on capitalism, rich
America on capitalism is becoming like poorAmerica on socialism.
Uncle Sam has welcomed our banks onto the plantation and they have said,
"Thank you, Suh." Now, instead of thinking about what creative things need
to be done to serve customers . . . they are thinking about what they have
to tell Massah in order to get their cash.
There is some kind of irony that this is all happening under our first black
president on the 200th anniversary of the birthday of Abraham Lincoln.
Worse, socialism seems to be the element of our new young president. And
maybe even more troubling, our corporate executives seem happy to move onto
the plantation.
In an op-ed on the opinion page of the Washington Post, Mr. Obama is clear
that the goal of his trillion dollar spending plan is much more than short
term economic stimulus. "This plan is more than a prescription for
short-term spending -- it's a strategy for America 's long-term growth and
opportunity in areas such as renewable energy, healthcare, and education."
Perhaps more incredibly, Obama seems to think that government taking over an
economy is a new idea. Or that massive growth in government can take place
"with unprecedented transparency and accountability." Yes, sir, we heard
it from Jimmy Carter when he created the Department of Energy, the Synfuels
Corporation, and the Department of Education. Or how about the Economic
Opportunity Act of 1964 -- The War on Poverty -- which President Johnson
said "...does not merely expand old programs or improve what is already
being done. It charts a new course. It strikes at the causes, not just
the consequences of poverty."
Trillions of dollars later, black poverty is the same. But black families
are not, with triple the incidence of single-parent homes and out-of-wedlock
births.
It's not complicated. Americans can accept Barack Obama's invitation to
move onto the plantation. Or they can choose personal responsibility and
freedom.. Does anyone really need to think about what the choice should
be?