OK so that title was slightly click baity.
Are poverty and crime problems? Technically, but they are actually symptoms of larger issues and not root issues.
This is why when politicians say they will work on these things if you just give them your money and freedom (their solution to everything) it makes me insane.
Poverty is not a lack of money. If it was then throwing trillions at it over decades would have solved it. Yet it’s only gotten worse. Poverty in this country (and many other places) exists due to bad policy and decay of the fiber of morality, self accountability and the victim mentality. In fact, if we think of the black communities specifically I would argue just throwing money at folks is harmful and not productive in the least. We must teach men to fish and not give them fish. For any poor community the answer to breaking that cycle of poverty is not to give them things but teach them and show them another way. I think many poor communities are in dire straits and you have many children growing up hopeless, lost and possibly without feeling loved. So solving these things does not take money. It takes elbow grease. It takes people going into those areas and holding classes, conferences or get togethers that show people true concern, compassion AND teach them skills for jobs and also life skills. If that started tomorrow it would take probably a decade to show a huge change. The longer we wait the worse it gets and the longer it will take.
Rampant crime is similar. This too is due to bad policy and the tearing of the moral framework. Crime has zero to do with the criminal justice system. Those only get involved after crime has been committed and sway people with threats of incarceration. The real issue is that you have people that wish to and are capable of crime. It’s a social and moral problem. And this too is solved the same way with teaching those who would listen there is another way and how to go in that other direction. Now clearly in this case having lax laws and allowing people to commit crime only encourages it.
In both cases where each situation is of a level where we have dysfunctional communities politician’s efforts have done nothing but make it worse. We can argue whether that is intentional or not but in either case the result is the result. We don’t need to pour more money into these issues, we need to put more effort and in a human way.
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