By: Matt Rosenberg
With Chicago’s ongoing weekend shootings, killings, and teen mob scenes in the streets drawing national attention, the difficult subject of parenting is surfacing. It’s plain to see: Chicago and Illinois will never thrive as long as many or most children in some populations are born to single mothers and raised in fatherless homes.
In Chicago eight of ten black births in 2020 were to unmarried mothers, versus little more than one in ten for whites. The data were provided through an information request by Wirepoints to the Illinois Department of Public Health, and come from vital statistics. (Download Excel – includes 19 other IL cities. 4 tabs).
Despite some single parents who do heroic work, the odds are stacked against kids raised in households without two married parents. UCLA economist Melanie Wasserman found, “growing up outside a family with two biological married parents yields especially negative consequences for boys, with effects evident in educational, behavioral, and employment outcomes.” She added, “…black boys…appear to fare especially poorly in families and low-income neighborhoods without fathers present.”
University of Pennsylvania sociologist Paul Amato reported that children born out of wedlock do worse on a wide range of outcomes. They “reach adulthood with less education, earn less income, have lower occupational status, are more likely to be idle” or “not employed and not in school.” They are also “more likely to have a non-marital birth (among daughters), have more troubled marriages, experience higher rates of divorce, and report more symptoms of depression.” Amato further explains how cohabitation is no substitute for marriage, particularly where the emotional health of children is at stake.
It’s a tough spot for Chicago. The city is besieged for the third year running by elevated levels of violent black-on-black crime including murders and shootings – and by other predatory crimes committed by young black men such as armed robberies, carjackings and aggravated battery and assaults.
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot has periodically mentioned the role of parents, such as after teens savagely beat a CTA bus driver last December, and again after last weekend’s conflagration. But her words are rote and half-hearted. Her default position throughout has been that the abnormally high murder rate of blacks in Chicago and their lower life expectancies due to greater prevalence of disease has been due to “systemic racism.” In Chicago, non-blacks are informally forbidden to talk about how more minority parents must step in against violence. McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski found out when he called out the role of parents in fatal violence involving children.
But after last weekend when 33 were shot, five fatally, and teens rampaged again downtown, Chicago 911 dispatcher Keith Thornton, who is black, called on Chicago parents to do better. Far better. He’s known for his heroic calm and competence on the radio last summer aiding EMS workers handling the shooting of Chicago police officers Carlos Ynez and Ella French by a felon on probation. French later died. Since he was spotlighted for his work, Thornton has been an outspoken advocate for Chicago police; and he didn’t mince words about the role of parents in recent violence and chaos threatening the city’s economy and its future.
In a public Facebook post, Thornton wrote, “Chicago is in a death spiral and has quickly turned into a city that caters strictly to criminals who target the innocent. There is absolutely no accountability and there are no consequences for bad or even deadly behavior. Many parents have stopped parenting and most politicians have forced our police officers to stop policing…Everyone involved in the criminal activity last night and all of this morning should have been arrested; hundreds. Every single mass arrest van should have been deployed and filled. Make their parents get out of bed to collect their children. Make them go to court. Make it inconvenient for the offender and the family who let this madness go unchecked.”
Keith Thornton is right. But it’s harder to get parents involved when there’s only one at home. And the results can be dire. There’s a close correlation between the neighborhoods in Chicago with the greatest percentage of nonmarital births, and those with the most murders.
In a 2012 report little discussed by Chicago media, the city’s health department with an assist from University of Illinois researchers found – here on pp. 25 and 27 – that in each year from 1999 through 2009, more than 80 percent of black births in Chicago were to single mothers and that they were clustered in communities such as Austin, West and East Garfield Park, North Lawndale, Englewood, Greater Grand Crossing, South Shore, Roseland, West Pullman, and Riverdale. These are among the very same communities where – as Chicago Police annual reports show yearly – murders are most frequent in Chicago.
And those murders are typically black on black. Four of every five murders in Chicago in 2017 through 2020 were of blacks. That’s according to breakdowns by race buried deep within annual police reports. The perpetrators are mostly black, too. In the 21 years between 1991 through 2011, blacks were more than 70 percent of known murder perps in each of those years except one, according to the CPD report “Chicago Murder Analysis” (p. 38).”
Baseline conditions in the home aren’t improving. While 70 percent of black births in Chicago were to unmarried mothers in 1980, since 1990 the figure has been lodged above 80 percent. Latinos are up from 47 percent to 57 percent. For whites and Asians the rate has stayed steady near 10 percent.
There’s a sizable debate about what causes the high rate of unmarried births to black mothers. We’ll get to that more deeply soon. But for now, let’s start by noting there are men who become fathers with utterly no intention of getting married. Their presence in their children’s lives may turn out to be flickering, at best.
Ron Fields is a married black father of four who operates a barbershop in Chicago’s South Shore neighborhood. He’s all too familiar with guys who pay child support but aren’t married to the mothers of their children.
Fields says, “I hear it every day in the barber shop. Guys complaining about, they’ve got multiple Baby Mamas; they celebrate when they get done with child support. Because they made kids with women they can’t get along with. It costs them, long-term.”
It costs too many of their children, too.
We should be very clear about one more thing. The argument that absent black fathers are explained in substantial part by incarceration? It’s a red herring. Barely more than two percent of black adults in Illinois are imprisoned, according to the most recent available data.
So against a violent and sobering backdrop that intensifies daily in Chicago, the staggering level of births to black unmarried mothers demands closer attention.
COMING NEXT: We’ll look at the numbers on births to unmarried mothers for the 20 largest cities in Illinois in 2020; and over time, statewide and nationally.
A set of state lawmakers want to extend CPS’ current school closing moratorium to February 1, 2027 – the same year CPS is set to transition to a fully-elected school board. That means schools like Manley High School, with capacity for more than 1,000 students but enrollment of just 78, can’t be closed for anther three years. The school spends $45,000 per student, but just 2.4% of students read at grade level.
Hopefully, all media will get the message, in Illinois, too.
Ted joined Tom Miller of WJPF to talk about Illinois’ highest-in-the-nation property taxes, why lawmakers don’t want to touch the tax’s cost drivers, just how much Illinoisans’ tax burden has grown over the decades, why Gov. Pritzker failed to meet his promise to reform property taxes, and more.
Matt, thank you for sharing this well written article. It may be uncomfortable for some to read this, yet unsettling facts and data can lead to solutions that otherwise wouldn’t be created without all accurate intelligence being included.
Another “must fix” problem where there is no affordable or practical fix. A contributor to the abortion debate is the failure of sex participants to take measures to avoid pregnancy. I also doubt unprotected sex will diminish notwithstanding millions of government dollars aimed at the “problem.” Ditto for carbon emissions and water shortages within the next several decades. No doubt someone has researched these issues. When you face localized problems [urban areas controlled by Democrats or homes built in deserts or in dry forests] the cost to fix can’t possibly be met by the people affected. Thus, you’d have to… Read more »
Something to think about: maybe restricting access to abortion and birth control is a really bad idea. Both of those things solve the problem that this article focuses on.
Oh, those selfish lefties with their, “My body, my choice” mantra. Oh wait, wasn’t that also the mantra of the right when they didn’t want to get the vaccine. Oops
Since when is the baby’s body the mother’s body? It’s two separate people. My not wanting the vaccine only involved my body alone.
Then don’t bitch about what’s mentioned in the article. Also: can you have a baby? If men carried babies there would be an abortion clinic on every corner like a Starbucks. Unless your into adopting other people’s unwanted kids and raising them to be adults, it’s probably best to stay out of others business. What’s better: an aborted child or one that is born completely unwanted by either parent and needs to be supported by a welfare system that you have no desire to pay for? An unborn fetus has no capability to commit any crime. Isn’t that what you… Read more »
What’s better: an aborted child or one that is born completely unwanted by either parent and needs to be supported by a welfare system that you have no desire to pay for? The problem with this question is it implies a binary choice. Which is the only way the pro-abortion view it, without any nuance or complexity. Also, to say that men have no part in the discussion because they can’t carry the child, is a huge part of the problem. An unborn fetus has no capability to commit any crime. So, is it an ‘aborted child’ or an ‘unborn… Read more »
Do an internet search for What to Bull Elephants and 14 year old boys have in Common. It is an study from Australia at least 30 years old explaining why eliminating male adults from populations and relying on Mothers to raise young adolescent males is a bad idea for the males and eventually adolescent females. In both populations removing adult males is government policy.
I would add that when school prayer was eliminated whether a student participates or not that was the beginning of the downward spiral in public education. You could not mention the word God unless your swearing in public schools yet when Congress opens their meetings a chaplain has a prayer before proceedings start. I would like to see a comparison of private vs public (K-12) as to how many crimes are committed by students in each. My opinion is that when parents pay for education (private) vs education shall be free (public) they have a greater say in what students… Read more »
The whole aura of private education is different. First, it’s obvious from the start that the parents in general are more devoted to raising their children or why would they pay extra for doing so. Consequently they likely raise their children with more periodic monitoring in general and presumably in terms of educational progress, too. In contrast many parents not making that sacrifice of their time, money and attention basically send their children to what soon enough becomes an expensive form of day care where attendance and student behavior become the more important issues as time passes instead of educational… Read more »
Once again, Matt Rosenberg brings to the fore the fundamental issues regarding the ceaseless social carcinogens impacting his beloved Chicago. Never a polemicist, the topics raised are reasoned, clinically dispassionate, and laser focused on the core underpinnings of the degradation of the communities suffering from feckless leadership and numbed citizens. With single heads of households being the single greatest determinant of poverty, schools that fail to educate, and political and civil leadership that pursues finger pointing versus solutions, bumper sticker remedies will continue to fail to address these pathologies. Even if there happened to be buy in across the political… Read more »
Well said!
Matt raises a vital issue, “the staggering level of births to black unmarried mothers” and its connection to teen violence, that is almost universally absent from public discussion. Take Milwaukee, a mere 90 miles north, and recently in national news for a spate of downtown shootings that wounded more than 20. And the city is on pace to surpass this year its dubious record for homicides set last year. So what is the response from public officials, mayor on down? Mouth platitudes about the “access to a gun in the first place”; ascribe cause to “the pandemic”; place responsibility for… Read more »
The fabric of society is woven by the family. It can’t be woven top down from the government. It’s threads are too fine.
Matt,
Interesting facts and I have a question. I did not see any discussion of the welfare incentive, where single parents receive more benefits based on the more children they have out of wedlock, is that still a thing or has that loop hole been eliminated.
Now imagine if you will what could happen if just 1% of the money sent to Ukraine was sent to Chicago and it was split between enforcement efforts and programs to bring these people out of the depths of poverty. Job training, college degree programs ect.
Tom, that’s an important aspect of this. We are breaking our coverage of the topic up into pieces, and plan to publish in the fairly near future a policy analysis of incentives/disincentives for unmarried births.
Don’t we have numerous feckless programs from which money could be allocated rather than ask for more?
Almost 60 years of democrats master plan-and their hard work is paying off in the destruction of a civil society. The only question is- what is their end game?
Keep swinging the hammer, Matt.
Their end game is destruction of civil society to gain power and control.
This is an incredible set of facts backed by data that should cause immediate action by anyone who cares about the future of Chicago. This is indeed a death spiral for a once great city, the city that works is not the city that cowers in fear. The increasing percentage of unwed mothers of black babies is increasing over time, all of the past efforts to provide solutions have failed. Time for a new approach! Start with changing the narrative and arresting people who break the law and teaching responsibility for behavior.
A novel approach to this fatherless epidemic would be to offer $2,500 to any male willing to undergo a vasectomy. Of course, for most men the notion is preposterous. But contemplate the financial savings for our country once the indigent population opts for the cash instead of fathering countless children ! Needless to say just how many unwanted births this very practical and intriguing offer would result in. Of course, anyone who values family and children wouldn’t contemplate the notion for a moment. Then again, consider the long term savings for the county when these reprobates no longer can father… Read more »
I agree with the other posts, this is a tremendous commentary about the ongoing teen violence in our community and Nation. As said by others, the root causes are multifactorial and no doubt have some relationship to public housing rules in the 60’s that literally forbade unwed fathers to be involved with their children living there with their mothers. Such sins become generational despite since reforming such honorous policies. This said, it would be helpful if our political and religious leaders were honest about the need for focusing on the family rather than on canards for reparations and legislated equity.
I have more than a passing familiarity with the system. The policies are not reformed. Mothers on welfare, if the have a working man in the household, lose free benefits if the father, for all purposes, earns more than the benefits. So it’s free benefits for mom and good bye benefits if dad works. So couples just shack up instead, or ‘stay’ together, and by ‘stay’, many members of the community don’t really live anywhere, they only ‘stay’ places for periods of time before moving on to the next place to stay, whether it be with a new paramour, or… Read more »
There are so many problems here that I am amazed that you managed to touch on all of them in one article! Kudos to heroic Keith Thornton! But one man can’t solve all the poblems, especially if no one wants to listen. Have we addressed WHY so many women of color get pregnant in the first place? Could it be for the welfare money? But even apart from that: This mayor is blindsided by her belief in systemic racism. What these teens need is to spend the summer in jail where they belong. Might make them think twice next time.whatever… Read more »
Outstanding!!! Matt is talking about what is real. Not “systemic racism” but the breakdown of society in black lives & communities. I could go on about Johnson’s Great Society Act in 1964 & how it affected black families on a whole. I could go on about Jeff Fort & Larry Hoover who created 2 of the most violent street gangs in Chicago & who continue run the gangs from Colorado’s SuperMax prison. I could go on about Jesse Jackson & Louis Farrakhan, who have done virtually nothing to help the black communities they take from I can also tell you… Read more »
You mean Tic Tok cant raise children?
Keith Thornton is 100% correct. Actions need to have consequences for the children and the adults who raise them. My mother was a single mother ((((. As a Korean vet, my father had PTSD, and at the time, we knew nothing about it.))))) But that is for another time. And both my brother and me never even thought of disobeying her. In Chicago, Cabrini green did no favors to family life. Its existence made single parents palatable to receive assistance. All this wasn’t good from the start.
The parents ENCOURAGE this. The send their children out, knowing there are zero consequences and the can just be relased. I was listening the the police scanner and the sargent was upset because two teens were arrested for shooting someone and those teens were put in handcuffs. Apparently you cannot do that. This is just nuts. The subway is unusable and the buses are full of homeless and people that don’t understand why they can’t play their cell phones at full volume. But yet it is racism that is causing this? We have now raised two generations of professional victims.… Read more »
Curious how a truthful observation about the change in the population characteristics of an area, such as South Shore, which went from no crime to lots of crime, can be deleted here. The change was familial, from intact families to the “no tact” variety. Systemic racism had nothing to do with it.
Excellent commentary Matt. Some of these women don’t know to be responsible. Basic information on contraception should be made available. It’s sad to see what is happening with these unmarried/fatherless women and their children. It sentences them to a meager life with little hope of a solid future. And government is part of the blame. Under Temporary Assistance for Need Families (TANF), Illinois provides for one month and two children up to $19,442 per year. I have heard some women think by having more babies they will receive more assistance. And the downward spiral continues… It’s obvious that this culture… Read more »
We call this the “family business” passed down for generations. Parents teaching their kids how to live the same way they did. Teaching them how to get subsidies for everything, no need for educations or employment, and taking no responsiblity for their actions. That’s a very successful “family business”. With no restrictions from the state and money being poured into this boondoggle every day it will never be repaired. These kids are embracing this culture and no one is doing anything to stop it. We’ll have a whole new generation doing the same things their parents did then teaching their… Read more »
High taxes —> strained budget —> strained relationship —> single mom —> problem kids
Problem kids are a symptom. The core problem is Illinois government itself.
The best thing an Illinois family can do it leave Illinois, assuming it wants to stay a family.
The cost to stay and fight for a better Illinois is too high a price to pay.
This is why government programs to fix the problem is insane. A big part of the problem is the government itself. High real estate taxes prevent home ownership which is a big step towards a better financial future. High real estate taxes depress home appreciation which prevents people from moving up the economic ladder.
Why is there a stigma attached to broadcasting these stark facts ‘that-shall-not-be-mentioned’? Because no one likes to be branded as a racist, especially if they’re not one. What do they say about the first step of recovery? Denial is just a river in Egypt? It’s time to accept the truth. OK, now that it’s out there–how is it dealt with, and by whom? Throwing good money after bad under the guise of (corruptible) great-optics, city-sponsored social programs hasn’t worked before & likely won’t do much now. So much wasted money that hasn’t done squat. Only targeted city money towards specific… Read more »
Thank you for your words. One must ask why are these women having baby after baby with multiple baby daddies? Some years ago I spoke to a person of color who was a single mother and I asked why? Why do you chose to have children knowing the father won’t be there? She stated it’s the system. I asked what system? She said the one where the government provides. If there is a baby daddy in the picture the amount of monies received declines. She stated she was born into the system and her children will continue in the system.… Read more »
When I was a teenage bagboy, I worked with a girl who had a baby when she was 18/19. Nice, sane girl. A decade or so later, I went back to that same store, She was still a cashier. Another girl who worked with me at that time also had a child out of wedlock (albeit in her early 20s) and was still a cashier there as well. In my own neighborhood, two girls became mothers in their teens. Both turned out to be stable mothers with heavy support from middle-class grandmas, but neither had it easy and had to… Read more »
I agree, but continuing with your line of thought: If that is basically all they know, and that is what the ‘family’ support system is around them, even if they might want to ‘escape’, the question immediately becomes “Escape to WHAT?” It is VERY hard to be the local outcast from ‘the system’, from ‘the sisterhood’. They measure each other and support each other, and that is as much responsible for the ongoing march of poverty than anything else! And, if you think about it, thus it has ever been so! When the Germans came to this area, they clustered… Read more »
Your point about groups of immigrants relying on each other for mutual support is spot on. That is how each group managed to work their way up to middle class within a couple of generations. But remember, they worked hard, sacrificed for a better future, and relied on each other. What they did not do is plan for a life of government support.
Thanks, Mr. Rosenberg, for discussing the elephant in the middle of the room. No politicians have the guts to say what everyone knows. The problem with violent crime is the death of the black American family. And as Dr. Sowell has pointed out repeatedly, before the well-meaning Civil Rights Act of 1964, black families stayed together in higher percentages than white families. Our government’s best intentions have damaged generations of black Americans and sentenced them to a live of crime, violence and despair. And now political correctness has made it nearly impossible to discuss a way forward. Props to you… Read more »
“Ongoing teen violence puts LACK OF parenting at center stage in Chicago” – Wirepoints
Fixed.
The lack of standards, respect for education, values, respect for each other, etc. are ALL learned in the home. It is the parents job to teach…
The minute we started destroying the nuclear family and tried to replace it with the gubmint (remember Barack’s cradle to grave support initiative?) we gave parents an out…
Matt, respectfully, this isn’t something most of us don’t already know. It takes alot to raise a child. In fact, it takes a village. Or, a large extended family, at least. We don’t want them to abort, we don’t want to provide birth control, we call the “welfare roaches” if they go on the dole. Trillions in bogus PPP loans, staggering amounts of waste, but the militarily? Giddyup! 🇺🇦, giddy up! All that being said, we don’t get value for what we spend. There’s too much corruption, too many grifters in office. Lets go back to aggressive policing and prosecution,… Read more »
Rob, we have already spent around $20 trillion, yes trillion, on Great Society programs. We were told this was the Marshall Plan for poverty that you call for. Yet here we are with these results. More and better programs are the answer? Corruption and grift are the problems? That is the constant refrain when leftist policies prove disastrous – “Our ideas are not wrong, we just need more money/better implementation/better messaging”. Then they blame everything on systemic racism.
It’s well beyond time to check the premises of leftist philosophy.
Health care, school choice, healthy food, jobs. The grifters siphon off a large portion of social service spending.
Scandinavia and Europe spend more, and have less crime.
Also, I’d hold the men responsible for 50% of the support.
Sounds a lot like more money/better implementation, and then the plan will work.
I see you’ve got the Fox News decoder ring. Crime is up. The middle class has been hollowed out by Dem and Republicans corporate greed. We’ve been sold out.
Who said “their” ideas were ever “right”. Pat Moynahsn warned about these programs years ago.
Why not expand your mind a little bit? We don’t have to have a handful.of oligarchs and a crooked political class that riot us daily
Or, we could simply hold people accountable for their choices. Crime is not a causal affect of poverty. Open our minds to what? We lost our way when we chose to create victims out of criminals and devalue values…. Devalue assimilation. Devalue personal responsibility and agency…
“There’s a sizable debate about what causes the high rate of unmarried births to black mothers.” I’m of the opinion that unmarried births and absent fathers are a symptom of a larger problem. It’s more than just not getting married, it’s also about having multiple children from multiple fathers too. https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/1-5-us-moms-have-kids-multiple-dads-study-says-flna1C9462927 In the African American community, almost 60% of women have children with more than one father (while Hispanics come in second place at 35 percent and whites come in last at 22 percent.) The reality is that our society is not structured to handle these types of situations well,… Read more »
Looks like we’re going to have a talk with the fathers about their son’s behavior………..hahahahahahaha.
“Chicago is in a death spiral and has quickly turned into a city that caters strictly to criminals who target the innocent.”
Chicago’s politicians cater because the corrupt “press-tocricy” that badgers them demands that they do. The media has no checks or balance. They spew ignorant nonsense endlessly. Murder at “The Bean” is the result.
My family and I have made a conscious decision to completely avoid Chicago now.
Thanks for writing on this vitally important topic. Several writers warned of this years ago, such as Daniel Moynihan and the great Thomas Sowell. Charles Murray’s “Coming Apart” written 20 years ago shows that these social pathologies result in disaster, regardless of the race. Behavior has consequences. We as a society must impose consequences for lawless behavior.
Thank you for having the courage to write this article, which for some reason is taboo in MSM. It is the FUNDAMENTAL reason why we have systemic differences in society and a vicious cycle unless it can get broken. I believe it was Brookings Institute that said you have a 98% chance of success of avoiding poverty if you achieve three basic outcomes: 1) graduate High School 2) Get a full time job 3) Get married and wait until 21 to have children. 98% chance of success! Therefore as policymakers, why would you not incentive or push policies aligned with… Read more »
We have CEOs who are on boards within our city who need to step up and do their part or as they say walk the talk rather than sit in their offices and attend zoom meetings. We have city council members who have been idle for years doing absolutely nothing. Then let’s add in our congressional members who have not done a dang thing for their city in years — only have added fuel to the fire.
May I respectfully inquire: What “boards” and what is “their part”? Aldermen a separate, different issue, and does go in lock-step with the Congressional delegation.
Ultimately, we still collectively need to do ONE THING: F-O-L-L-O-W T-H-E M-O-N-E-Y!!! Not just the vapid, meaningless names of these groups and committees that applied for a grant and then did something or nothing meaningful with it….but who ACTUALLY got the money? I propose we’d be staggered if we actually knew the answer to that.
With such glaring statistics you would think there would be more coverage on this topic. However, that might make some in the media, and general public, uncomfortable. It is much more important that we hear about the national women’s soccer team achieving pay parity.
You would think so, but we answer our own question, especially elsewhere in these comments, re: the “working” press. Compliance and acquiescence becomes the currency for ACCESS! Just recall Lori Lightfoot and her declaration that she was only going to grant interviews to minority reporters. The print press is about gone in Chicago, and some of the local electronic reports are headed the same way. The turn of a phrase today and the ‘omitted fact’ today provides easier access to a story tomorrow!!!
Matt, please provide a link enabling readers to view the data provided to you from the Illinois Dept. of Public Health that undergirds your assertion that:
“In Chicago eight of ten black births in 2020 were to unmarried mothers…. The data were provided through an information request by Wirepoints to the Illinois Department of Public Health, and come from vital statistics.”
Thank you.
Ken there is now a “Download Excel” link at the end of the second paragraph. It has data on births to unmarried mothers as a percent of all births not only for Chicago but also other large cities in the state, and for the state as a whole. Four tabs, 1990-2020; but 1990 is just statewide, no cities. Compiled by and comes straight from IDPH. At our request.
Thank you Matt.
Great article, Mr. Rosenberg. I commented earlier this week on Lori’s statement after the shooting at The Bean last Saturday. Lori was saddened by the thought of another mother mourning the death of her son. True enough, but no mention of a father mourning or whether there was a man out there that didn’t even know he had a son who was murdered. There are so many things wrong with this scenario that I can’t even begin to list them all. Racism plays a part, but there are serious problems with the education system, the welfare system, the criminal justice system, gang culture, and… Read more »
You state areas where there are “serious problems” – most of which are attempts at social engineering. There were once vibrant areas in Chicago where black families lived and prospered, but social engineers decided to “improve” their lives with programs that discouraged intact families and displaced families to high rises. Now social justice warriors further disrupt lives by supporting poor school policies, incarceration reforms and generally allowing no consequences for antisocial behavior. Politicians and the media are complicit in promoting bad policies and narratives that do more harm than good. There is no political will to address the real problems… Read more »
Indeed you’re right. Throwing money is no solution. Corruption of everything from the moral code to politicians contribute to the mess. And the Dems love it particularly. Gives them a chance for more control.
If a Democrat brings it up, they fear losing their voter base. If a Republican brings it up, they are called racist.