jimboston wrote:You’ve been programmed by your upbringing to believe that individual initiative is the ONLY THING that matters... and that individual initiative can overcome ANY obstacle. It’s not and it can’t. It matters, it matters a great deal... but other factors play a role, and some of those factors are racially based.
You don't know me or my upbringing. You are trying to assume what my upbringing was based on my current viewpoint, to which you would be very wrong. And that, my friend, is why my conversations with you don't go anywhere.
jimboston wrote:There’s nothing contrary or contradictory in my statements. Please reread.
No, it's contradictory. You initially state that you aren't diminishing my view because of my assumed age, but then you call me ignorant because of my assumed age.
jimboston wrote:So it all comes down to bad dad?
Not entirely. Fatherless homes are a large portion if why people take the path of crime.
jimboston wrote:OK... so how do we as a society help address the bad decisions of past fathers so that present and future fathers in that community can give future children an even starting point? Or do we just ignore it?
I would be in favor of significantly reducing the Welfare State, and stop giving incentives to individuals who have kids to remain separated (a.k.a. fatherless homes). That would definitely be a start in the right direction. Based off the US Census statistics, we actually see that after Welfare was passed,
we saw an extreme uptick in single parent homes across the board.
Even today,
the US has the highest rate of divorce in the world. We as a nation have forgotten how special marriage and the family structure is.
jimboston wrote:Bad dads are definitely part of the problem... but they aren’t the whole problem.
I agree.
jimboston wrote:How does the war-on-drugs impact a father’s ability to. be there for his kids in low-income and/or African American communities?
Personally, I don't understand why weed is a Class-1 substance. I would be in favor of rolling that back a bit. Other hard drugs such as Cocaine, Heroin, Meth, etc. definitely deserve their punishment, in my opinion.
jimboston wrote:How does lack of educational opportunities impact this problem?
Educational opportunities in which regard? Elementary, Secondary, Undergrad, Post-Grad? Or do you mean all of it? Or do you mean something different?
jimboston wrote:How do social networks that help people get through rough times and/or help them find better work... how do these factor in?
Social Networks are a good thing. However, my stance on this is that it shouldn't be the government's job to create and maintain social networks, but the community. I think that some communities rely on the government for things like this and it ends up hurting them in the long-run.
jimboston wrote:There’s no one silver bullet... but you’re getting closer.
No one silver bullet, but fatherless homes are a large portion of the bullet. Ultimately, choice is the determining factor in your life as far as your life's direction is concerned. But an environment in which you are not raised with a father will lead a very significant amount of people to think things are ok when they are not ok, namely crime, having children while not married, not finishing your basic education, etc.