TPM — The Virginia GOP’s nominee for lieutenant governor, E.W. Jackson, gave a speech Wednesday in which he claimed government social programs have done more harm to the “black family” than slavery. Jackson explained that “programs that began in the sixties” hurt the African-American community because they encouraged people to feel women did not need men “in the home.” …
“In 1960 most black children were raised in two parent, monogamous families. By now, by this time, we have only twenty percent of black children being raised in a two parent, monogamous families with the married man and woman raising those children,” Jackson said. “It wasn’t slavery that did that, it was government that did that. It tried to solve problems that only god can solve and that only we as human beings can solve.”
I’m sure slavery was wonderful and all. But God was taking his sweet time smoothing off the rough edges, and wouldn’t We the People, i.e., our democratoc form of government resolving it, count as human beings? Maybe not in Jackson’s world.
For the record Jackson is half right: It wasn’t slavery that left poor black kids home alone in the 21st century, it was the war on drugs, restricted access to birth control and abortion services, and the need for two income earners pulling in that sweet minimum wage that did it.
I would love to have seen a shot of the audience. (I’m guessing ten people at most).
Holy crap! There’s so much stupid in there it’s easy to miss that sweet little bit at the end where he seems to assume the government is not composed of and elected by human beings. I can’t even bring myself to comment on the rest.
Of course “the government” isn’t composed of human beings – it’s currently controlled by… [whispers] Democrats!
I still recall an outraged audience member of the Phil Donahue show railing about the Savings and Loan bailout back in the 80s: “Why should the taxpayers have to pay for this? The government should pay for this!!!”
@1 – Newport News is a hodgepodge of poor black and wannabe rich whites (the economy isn’t great, but it does well enough that the middle class whites think they are “all that”…I know a number of them), so there probably were a hundred or so idiots there soaked up the stupid.
Someone help me out here- aside from the weird assumption that “government” isn’t human beings, isn’t it a little contradictory (and in such a short sentence, too!) to assert both that “only god” and “only… human beings” can solve these problems? One absolute would seem to exclude the other.