Dear Editor:
I have to confess that I don’t have the formal academic achievements as Greenbrier County’s esteemed barrister of the Democratic Executive Community. I certainly understand the Protestant work ethics. My prospective is that of a humble working class retail worker. I’ve worked hard all my life. Sometimes, I had to work multiple jobs in order to take care of my family.
Mr. Detch defines trickle up as empowering the poor thus the working class benefits. I’ve seen the poor empowered at the expense of the working class. Nevertheless, there are certain things that an individual can do to avoid a life of poverty. Education, work and family structure.
“Education was always for us a way to break through the barriers of prejudice, to make sure that my parents used to say, make sure that you have all of the armor you need to move forward. And I know that an education is not a shield against prejudice, but it gives people a fighting chance. The poor kids and minority kids in our country, they really don’t have that shot at a high-quality education.” quoted by Condoleezza Rice
One example is the Baltimore Schools. Follow the money and it becomes clear that there are strong institutional incentives to keep Baltimore’s clearly failing system in place. In a very real sense, the dysfunction in Baltimore’s schools mirror a similar dysfunction in the city’s political establishment.
The young people in the inner cities pay the ultimate price with substandard education and can’t qualify for most jobs. Poverty and crime follow. There has to be a strong economic base with a career ladder for individuals to work out of. If we are to empower the poor, we do it with education not handouts. Helplessness is not a Republican value. Responsibility is the Republic mode.
I have heard that democrats are like mothers, they love everyone unconditionally. Republicans are like fathers who teach structure. Society has diminished the importance of the father in the family. He has been reduced to a child support check in some cases. The fathers are not in the picture financially or otherwise in many other cases. The children especially in inner cities grow up without the needed structure to operate and they gravitate in a very bad direction.
What the heck is “tickle up” economics.? How many workers can a poor person hire?
It has been my observation that an individual or individuals with capital creates a business venture that hires workers. If the business prospers so do the workers. It can create a career ladder for even a poor person to elevate their circumstances.
I have to laugh when Mr. Detch labels me as an angry, frustrated “Loyalist.” I come from a family of generational Democrats. I worked in the Republican campaign as a Nixonette in 1972 but eventually joined my family of Democrats. Ironically, all of them have switched to Republican. I have one step and two biological sons who all have different political ideologies. I have no intentions of throwing any of them out in the snow. I became a part of the #WalkAway movement in 2016 and rejoined the Republican Party. I wish I would have never left. It feels like home.
Love and Light
Bonijean Isaacs
White Sulphur Springs