WHY
URBAN REPUBLICANS MUST ACCEPT THAT BUILDING BANKS
AND
NOT RECREATION CENTERS WILL REVITALIZE OUR CULTURE
BY
“THE
EXCEPTIONAL ONE”
KEN MCCLENTON
There
are two tactics of the Left that boil vile bitterness in my spirit.
The two are blame and ignorance. Each tactic has been used by the
cherished educated elite of the national rebels against tradition and
reason and the urban dwellers that have used these tactics to craft a
seemingly eternal defiance of wealth creation and liberty.
Ignorance has its origin in the Latin ignorare
meaning "not
to know, to be unacquainted; mistake, misunderstand; take no notice
of, pay no attention to".
It is the go to statement of every politician that has ever been
given the privilege of serving the least, the last and the lost.
Despite years of warring against poverty, we did not know [ignorant]
that doing so would destroy families, increase dependence and destroy
the fabric of entrepreneurialism in urban America. We did not know
that encouraging children in public school settings to practice “safe
sex” would defile the purposes and outcomes of public education,
increase the risks of out of wedlock sex and introduce urban America
to a long term commitment of funding less than successful community
projects whose noble intention is to secede powers and
responsibilities from parents and ministers to the State. Urban
Republicans, seeking to be next in putting their hands on the
taxpayer’s till, convey the Gospel of Good Will Approach to
governance in the 22nd
Century. You wanna hear it, hear it goes. “We need to be a more
inclusive party and stop legislating social issues”. Yeah, that’s
fine and dandy except, much of today’s legislation is
appropriations for social programming that if one taught and enforced
principled governance would reduce the strictures of poverty by the
assault of the free market and free enterprise rather than by
increased government spending and poor government results.
The
next tactic used by the Left to preserve a plantation of victim hawks
and tax revenue dependents—individual and corporate—is the
introduction of blame. Defind as “assigning
the responsibility for something bad to (someone or something)”,
it cannot be applied willy-nilly. It must be used only on the
uncompassionate. The Blameless--innocent
of wrongdoing—are
always those that pur sue racial harmony by asserting that “the
white man” is the only culpit of economic disharmony, always convey
that Christianity is okay two (2) hours out of the week or when a
politician is seeking re-election for a place to convey that Jesus
knows that I care but, it is the bane of existence otherwise and
always understands that the “poor” are any persons that feel
that they are and that someone else must satisfy their wants and
desires. For these, only
those that are deemed uncaring are to be blamed. For those that
believe Free Speech is not a civil right, the Left has no quandary
with assigning “blame” to them for the most outlandish ideas or
concepts. Those knighted as “uncaring” knaves of bigotry and
hatred are generally those that believe the free market would
optimally work with limited governmental intervention and free
enterprise would regulate itself for the maximum pursuit of profit
and create more than enough ownership and employment opportunities
through innovation and investment. President Barack Obama said he
had a phone and a pen. He can thank the private industry for
producing these items and the employment necessary to provide the tax
revenue he needed to create how many Green jobs? Global cooling,
Global warming, climate change, weather reports, etc. are all facts.
Accept that it is man that causes the seas to rise and the sun to
set. A one percent drop in the gross domestic product does not an
economy make especially when Americans have so much money that can be
seized through higher taxes and fees. However, with the shield of
ignorance and sword of blame, the Left, except the elite leadeship,
have prevailed upon the urban dweller to support appropriations,
legislation and public policies that encourage poverty and unrest and
deny prosperity and safety.
Before
leaving Facebook for Eternity--as I refuse to be censored, treated
like a child and then, encouraged to keep promoting facsism for the
sake of sharing pictures with only a select group of family and
friends, I was broached by one marketplace idea and one marketplace
question. The idea was to encourage DC citizens to build recreation
centers to keep “poor” children off the streets and out of
trouble. The marketplace question was “what three issues most
concern you as a DC voter”? Each of these came from “Civil
Rights” Republicans that promote and support Councilmember Muriel
Bowser's Campaign to become the Nation Capital's next Mayor. Amazing
that Republicans in DC do all that they can to support Democrats
rather than build their own brand. I suppose if the chosen brood of
“Civl Rights” Republicans were to develop a platform, it would
firmly support the socio-poli-economic policies of the Democrats.
Yes,
let us consider the marketplace idea. One more recreation center is
what “poor” children need to saisfy their overall cultural needs.
The most impoverished areas of Washington, DC are populated by
Blacks. In lieu of employment and entrepreneurial opportunities, we
must entertain the poor in the stoic condition of lack. Apparently,
the public is responsible for congregating young people in a facility
where they can enjoy themselves and relax from the strains of not
learning very well in school, not using the public libraries to
improve their educational outcomes and not using the variant athletic
fields available to reduce childhood obesity. I believed that the
facility of choice for providing such pleasure was the home. Yes,
poor children, according to our noble intended community organizers,
need another center to play midnight basketball in. Let us consider
the Black
experience under President Barack Obama.
- 27
percent of black Americans now live in poverty,
a two percent increase since 2009.
- According to last
month’s Bureau of Labor Statistics report,
the unemployment rate for black Americans now stands at a
staggering 14.1 percent, a figure well above the already high
national unemployment rate of 8.3 percent.
- White Americans now
have 22
times more wealth than black Americans, a figure that has
nearly doubled during the recession. According to the Census, in
2010, media household net worth for whites totaled $110,729. For
blacks, the figure was $4,995.
- From June 2009 to
June 2012, real median annual household
income for blacks fell 11.1 percent from $36,567 down to
$32,498. The drop for whites was 5.2 percent and 4.1 percent for
Hispanics.
- According to the
Census, 26.4
percent of households who report receiving food stamp
assistance are African American, despite the fact that black
Americans constitute just 13 percent of the total population.
- A study by the AARP
found that home
foreclosure rates for African American borrowers over the age
of 50 were almost double those of whites.
- High school
graduation rates, which strongly influence income and job hiring,
continue to vary widely by race. A recent study
found the following on-time high school graduation rates:
91.8 percent of Asian students, 82 percent of whites,
65.9 percent of Hispanic students, and 63.5 percent of
African American students.
The
District of Columbia has done wonders in offering recreation
facilities and services in many of the most economically isolated
areas. There are twenty-four (24) recreation centers in the
impoverished East of the River communities. The unemployment rates
of Wards 7, 14.4%, and Ward 8, 21.6%, does not reveal a critical need
for play but a sincere need for labor and economic activity. A
recreation center will not drive substantive economic growth as much
as it will appease do-gooders and muster the intended result:
Democrats care and get re-elected.
Most
ask why is there so much construction, business and housing
development West of the Anacostia River versus East of the said
river. The answer for the economic sparseness in Urban America is a
simple as ATM. Jesus made it very simple even for those that
manipulate the complex, “Where your treasure is, there is your
heart”. Banks have as their primary role to take in funds—called
deposits—from those with money, pool them and lend
them to those who need funds. In the interest of making interest,
financial institutions lend money to those that seek to purchase
large ticket items, construct buildings and expand businesses.
Micro-enterprise development is made easier because of the pooling of
resources whether private or public. Those that lack are resourced
and their repayments provide interest for depositers and profit for
banks and shareholders. Who needs funds more than those that lack?
Kathryn
Wright writes,
“A
bank as a matter of fact is just like a heart in the economic
structure and the Capital provided by it is like blood in it. As
long as blood is in circulation the organs will remain sound and
healthy. If the blood is not supplied to any organ then that part
would become useless, so if the finance is not provided to
Agricultural sector or industrial sector, it will be destroyed. Loan
facility provided by banks works as an incentive to the producer to
increase the production.”
The
lack of banking activity in Urban America and expressly, the District
of Columbia's impoverished Wards, contributes greatly to the
entrenched poverty that a recreation center can not solve. According
to Dr. Brooks Robinson, economist and director of Blackeconomics.org,
black banks are critical to creating loans for black businesses.
"Black-owned banks in black communities can even draw the
traditionally unbanked poor into the formal economy," Dr.
Robinson states. "And [they can] push egregiously exploitative
pay-day and check-cashing operations out of business." You
won't hear that from the Noble Democrat because its adverse consul.
There is no government program involved. You can use your money to
get out of poverty. But Ken, you are not the most brilliant man, how
did you come up with this? In politics, they told me, “Watch the
money”. In education, they told me “Watch the money”. In
church, they told me, “Watch the money”. How is it that we don't
watch the money in our community? In DC, there are seventy-eight
(78) credit unions. However, there are only three (3) that are East
of the River. There are twenty-seven (27) banks with a financial
footprint in Washington, DC. Only four (4) have stepped over the
line of demarcation into the East of the River community. There are
two hundred forty-one (241) bank branches in the Nation's Capital.
Only nine (9) in the impoverished communities of DC. In addition,
Bank of America has closed its South Capitol Street SW branch and
moved its financial services to an ATM in Eastover Shopping Center
in Prince George's County, Maryland. So what's in your wallet East
of the River. Bringing your money home lessens your dependence on
government which lessens your taxes and then, lessens the involvement
of bureaucrats in your daily lives. Dr. Brooks Robinson, Bank
Creation: A Key to Black Economic Development,
writes, “...every major city in American with sizeable Black
populations should have one or more Black banks. Unfortunately, this
is not the case. According to a March 2010 Federal Reserve Board
report, there are only 30 Black-owned banks in the U.S.—one for
every 1.3 million Blacks”. Imagine if 1% of those 1.3 million
would open a $100 savings account and add their payroll or retirement
payments in a East of the River federal credit union as religiously
as they do a bank on the other side of town? Better schools,
affordable houses, more small businesses and greater prosperity will
not come with our desires on this side of town but only when our
dollars are on the other side of town. Build more banks and private
citizens will build more recreation centers known as gyms or yoga
therapy facilities!
What
draws my greatest zeal is the number of wanabe “conservative”
revolutionaries that pride themselves not on finding free-market,
free-enterprise alternatives to governmental intrusion into the lives
of urban dwellers but seek to rearrange the chairs on the corrupted
deck of the Titanic so that public funds from overburdened taxpayers
can better be used to make businesses hire “returning citizens”,
raise business costs by creating a “livable” wage, build
recreation centers to keep social and economic threats off of the
street and make homes more affordable through state subsidy rather
than private employ. In spite of the deplorable economic and
political outcomes of Detroit, Michigan and inner city Baltimore,
Maryland, there are those on both sides of the aisle that submit to
the status quo waltz as the dance of choice. Heartily, they contend
themselves experts in economic development simply by raising taxes on
the newfound rich, otherwise known as the middle class and poor, and
then, redistributing the enlarged treasuries to their crony
capitalists’ friends and political lackeys seeking financial remedy
for their campaign support hangover. Booker T. Washington, Up
from Slavery,
writes, “Among a large class, there seemed to be a dependence upon
the government for every conceivable thing. The members of this class
had little ambition to create a position for themselves, but wanted
the federal officials to create one for them. How many times I wished
then and have often wished since, that by some power of magic, I
might remove the great bulk of these people into the country
districts and plant them upon the soil – upon the solid and never
deceptive foundation of Mother Nature, where all nations and races
that have ever succeeded have gotten their start – a start that at
first may be slow and toilsome, but one that nevertheless is real.”
There are some men and women that come in the name of Reagan yet,
propose the political and economic pursuits of Obama. True
conservative revolutionaries seek to change the purpose of the
guardians and what they guard. This brings me finally to the
marketplace question. The three things that any new mayor should
focus on are these: finding as many private, free market answers to
today's problems as possible, lessening DC's socialists interests in
the everyday lives of citizens and protecting the Bill of Rights
rather than inducing the United Nation's Human Rights on us. We will
not be freer or more prosperous until many in power and many in
pursuit of replacing them for the sake of power itself seek to build
wealth creation machines rather than redistributing the wealth of
others for building luxury recreation machines. You have a choice
this day: Socialism or Conservatism. Choose Conservatism.
