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Jewish World Review May 12, 2011 / 8 Iyar, 5771 Keeping Hope Alive for Real By Cal Thomas
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
"You can't learn anything by studying failure," he says. "If you want to learn anything, you must study the successful." I spent last Tuesday riding around The keys are discipline, raised expectations, a family atmosphere infused with tough love, imposed morality and yes, hope. Cost estimates for the "war on poverty" vary, but most put it in the trillions of dollars. That war hasn't been won. Record numbers are on food stamps. Woodson says the difference between programs he supports and others is that he "takes time-tested principles and virtues and applies them to addictions, homelessness and other conditions. We have moral consistency." Woodson quotes popular Christian minister When most people think of "civil rights leaders" they think of
"Eighty percent of all anti-poverty money doesn't go to poor people," Woodson says, "but to organizations that claim to serve poor people." He is emphatic about what he says and he produces success when so many other programs fail: "Faith in G0d transforms the inside and that faith transforms the outside." Pastor Woodson reminds me of an often-ignored fact: "Poor whites in Appalachia are worse off than inner-city blacks." Perhaps that is because not as many government programs are available to them and the media and politicians mostly ignore poor whites. There is a lesson here for Republicans if they will stop forfeiting the compassion game to Democrats. Woodson and Holloway are employing conservative Republican values and ideas, which are succeeding. Why are corporations and wealthy individuals donating so much money to people and programs that aren't working? Why do so many corporations contribute to Sharpton and Jackson when their track record of transforming people from dependency to self-sufficiency is, to be charitable, somewhat lacking. Republicans could win over the votes of many of the poor who think their future lies with Democrats. It doesn't, not if Democrats continue to spend money on failed programs that have no power to change lives. This will require Republicans getting out of their comfort zones and hanging out with people who not only have found hope, but who can communicate hope to others. As
JWR contributor Cal Thomas is co-author with Bob Beckel, a liberal Democratic Party strategist, of "Common Ground: How to Stop the Partisan War That is Destroying America". Comment by clicking here.
© 2011, Tribune Media Services, Inc.
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