It really is an Age of Wonder, as in: I wonder what the hell those people are thinking.
They would be the people arguing against personal responsibility and for unending handouts.
Take the Planned Parenthood Association, which blasted Mayor Bloomberg for an ad campaign that aims to get teens to graduate, get married and get a job before making a baby.
The campaign “creates stigma, hostility and negative public opinions about teen pregnancy and parenthood rather than offering alternative aspirations,” said Haydee Morales, a vice president of the city chapter.
Or take US Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, who also trotted out a scarlet-letter image to criticize City Hall for requiring poor children to walk to school cafeterias to get free breakfasts instead of eating in their classrooms.
“There’s a good rationale for having breakfast in the classroom, to reduce the stigma,” Vilsack declared on a recent visit to New York.
Those are just two of the latest foolish assaults on common sense and proven virtues. Others involve demands from “homeless advocates” (now there’s a job!) to build more and bigger shelters, despite the city spending nearly $1 billion this year. More is never enough.
And City Council Speaker Christine Quinn is leading the charge to stop the city from fingerprinting food-stamp recipients to weed out fraud. She insists it treats them as criminals, even though nearly all government workers are fingerprinted and somehow survive the stigma. Quinn & Co. also don’t mention that 1.8 million city residents now get food stamps, an increase of 1 million in the last decade, so obviously fingerprinting isn’t much of a barrier.
Always, the argument against any hurdle is a version of the Planned Parenthood rant — that the city is unfairly branding those getting “free” services. Never is there a consideration for the taxpayers footing the bill or, equally important, for the old-fashioned concept that a little shame never hurt anybody.
In fact, in the right circumstances, it’s downright healthy. The rise of the “come-and-get-it” entitlement culture is a direct result of sustained efforts to remove any hesitation over getting something at someone else’s expense. With self-restraint a quaint notion and governments at every level going broke, it’s time to bring back a dose of shame.
The dictionary defines it as a feeling of “guilt, embarrassment, disgrace, dishonor.” Those feelings, like a fear of failure, can be a spur to success.
Facts are facts. Families too poor to feed their own children or find a place to live are failing at the basic jobs of a parent. Pretending otherwise risks making the failure permanent and eroding any ambition to do better.
It’s what the late Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan called “defining deviancy down.” People get so numb to abnormal situations that, after a while, they start accepting them as normal. That spells death to progress.
Bloomberg said something similar to push back against his critics on the bold teen-pregnancy campaign. With 45 percent of children born out of wedlock — 54,000 out of 120,000 live births in 2010 — the mayor’s office zeroed in on the politically-correct refusal to face the tragic consequences.
“It is well past time when anyone can afford to be value neutral when it comes to teen pregnancy,” it said in a statement. After noting that New York makes birth control widely available (and also abortion, which it didn’t mention), the statement added that “we must send a strong message that teen pregnancy has consequences — and those consequences are extremely negative, life-altering and most often disproportionately borne by young women.”
Indeed, 90 percent of teen births are out-of-wedlock, and most of those children are raised by single mothers living on Medicaid and welfare. Where is Planned Parenthood’s compassion for those mothers?
And studies show conclusively that children raised with only one parent, on average, do worse in school and are more likely to go to jail and end up poor. Where is the compassion for those children?
Life is not a series of absolute rights. Responsibilities come with the package, and there is no shame in acknowledging them. In fact, where there is shame, there is hope, even if government has to dispense it.
Chummy O’s now a party animal
The world’s most powerful loner is suddenly on a socializing binge, breaking bread with Republicans and sharing a long dinner with Bill and Hillary Clinton.
Is President Obama on a new medication, showing new respect for old foes, or faking it?
The president is not a schmoozer. Author Jodi Kantor reported that, after his 2004 Democratic convention speech, a surge of demands for his time led him and wife Michelle to make a rule: “No new friends.” It was a rule they kept.
During his first term, Obama shunned Congress, including members from his own party. He rarely spoke to his cabinet, with Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and Secretary of State Clinton complaining privately they were shut out of big decisions on their turf. He once watched the Super Bowl alone in the White House.
But March is revealing a newer, improved Obama. Politico reports that he and the first lady had the Clintons over to dinner for the first time. Last week, he had dinner with a group of Senate Republicans, including John McCain, then had lunch the next day with Mitt Romney’s running mate and House budget chief Paul Ryan.
The action follows signs that Obama’s bad habit of demonizing opponents wasn’t working. His scare-quester tactics bombed, his polls are tanking and his second term risks getting stuck in endless budget battles. He needs a slice of the GOP to pass meaningful laws and the midterm elections are too distant to get into full campaign mode now.
But it’s also too soon to say whether Obama truly wants to forge bipartisan compromises for the good of the country. He’s given head fakes before, only to return to his default position of attack, smear and blame.
So, in the spirit of Reagan, trust but verify.
No nukes is good news
Anyone still not convinced of the need to stop Iran from getting a nuke should watch the behavior of North Korea. Its threat of “all-out war” against South Korea and vow to turn Washington into a “sea of fire” is Exhibit A of how madmen gain a sense of immunity once they have the bomb.
North Korea gets away with its outrageous provocations because of its ability, and apparent willingness, to use nuclear weapons. Imagine how Iran’s madmen would act if they get a nuke.
It’s impossible to without shuddering, which is why that day must never come to pass.
Dolan for pope
Voting begins Tuesday on a successor for Benedict, and New York’s Cardinal Dolan is a contender. He’s a young 63 and his jolly vigor and populist conservatism give him wide appeal. Here’s hoping Big Tim becomes the first American pontiff. Go Yankee!
‘Tank’ battle
The head of an Austrian political party says there are enough think tanks. What his native country needs, Frank Stronach declares, is a “do tank.”
America could use one, too.