Words Mean A Lot, Actions Speak Even Louder
Philadelphia is a large city with a famous past. America’s first large city, home of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, and the site of America’s first zoo, among other firsts. Today it is a typical large city with a split personality.
In today’s Philadelphia Inquirer, a story recounted the city’s 2011 homicides. Philadelphia is a “one a day” city where the only question on January 1 is whether the city will register less than 365 killings or more. In 2011, the number was 318.
The newspaper also published a map of Philadelphia and plotted where the killings to place. It almost exactly conformed to the economic demographics. If the area was one where people had average to above income, there were few if any homicides. If the area was where high unemployment and poverty existed, there were dead people to count.
In the same Inquirer edition, there was a report on New Jersey Governor Chris Christie’s state of the State. Christie like any good politician was buoyant over the State’s condition and attributed the State’s recovery to his efforts. As a consequent he was recommending a tax cut for everyone, including job creators.
We can overlook the Christie’s personal attribution of the State’s recovery since all politicians take credit for the sun rising. What can’t be overlooked is that New Jersey has the highest property taxes in the country. Why not apply any State largess to reducing them?
But even more glaring is the situation in Camden, New Jersey. This poor “suburb of Philadelphia” has a 2011 death rate about the same as Philadelphia. Due to financial difficulties, the city had dismissed half their police force. Why doesn’t Governor Christie use the proposed tax reduction money to put more police in Camden?
So when the GOP candidates speak of “jobs not food stamps”, what exactly do they mean? Does Newt mean he will cut food stamps and let those people now using food stamps find jobs? Does he mean he will cut food stamps, and give that money back to other Americans? Does he think the people now on food stamps prefer stamps to working?
I am sure Newt doesn’t care whether his words are clear. What he wants is for them to resonate in voters, most of whom do not see the poverty of large cities.
These are complex social problems where there are no silver bullets. Solutions that might work in Iowa’s corn fields or the rural areas of South Carolina are unlikely work in North Philadelphia.
Gingrich’s rhetoric is shameful and he knows that. He may claim these are desperate times (for him to get the nomination) as justification. Unfortunately too many other politicians may try to emulate this rhetoric if it works politically.
Lost in the mess will be a serious social situation, which like a cancer, is spreading within America.
This entry was posted on January 18, 2012 at 11:43 am and is filed under Barack Obama, Democratic Party, Politics, Republican Party. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments.
Tags: camden, chris christie, food stamps, jobs, new jersey, newt gingrich, philadelphia
You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site.
