Progressive Charter School Doesn't Have Students...The Onion
- Not long ago I wrote a piece about how important it was for Americans to follow the mayoral race in New York City. But after de Blasio was elected, it was also important to have paid attention to what he said at his inauguration.
- His speech was full of the usual progressive garbage from entitlement to increasing taxes on the rich to blaming others to moral relativity to collectivism. As one watched his speech, his bleeding heart was swelling.
- As predicted, his speech focused almost entirely on "income inequality." (Keep in mind, you will be hearing a lot about income inequality in the coming months to divert your attention from how bad Obamcare is). In addition, his entire speech lacked any degree of grace or courtesy. For example, as pointed out by several publications, he never acknowledged the fantastic work of the departing NYC police commissioner, Ray Kelly. Just over 20 years ago, NYC had about 2,200 murders per year. In 2013, there were 334. In fact, in 2013, you were more likely to die in a plane crash than be murdered by a stranger in NYC. In other words, almost no one is killed randomly in NYC. Ray Kelly and the NYPD deserve most of that credit.
- But let's get back to income inequality. After he was sworn in by former Pres. Bill Clinton---who makes about $500K for every speech---de Blasio said, "When I said we would take dead aim at the tale of two cities, I meant it." This was coming from a guy who owns millions in real estate.
- As Michael Goodwin of the NY Post wrote recently, this and more comes from the same mind-set that "suggests the poor are poor because the rich are rich." But these ideologues neglect to mention (on purpose) that poverty rates are six times higher for single-parents families that two-parent families. In fact, about 70% of all poor families with children are single-parent families (Brookings). The Heritage Foundation found that if single mothers were to marry the fathers of their children, about two-thirds of them would no longer be poor. As Rich Lowry correctly pointed out, the rich are not causing anyone to have children out of wedlock or to drop out of school. The economic policies of this progressive administration in D.C. add to these alarming statistics. When people are out of work, they can end up being poor. As reported last year, we've witnessed some of the highest poverty rates in decades.
- Again, Michael Goodwin put all of this in context, when he wrote, "Yet we are now plagued by false prophets---Obama and de Blasio...who make a career out of denying these facts. They would have us believe that unequal outcomes always result from injustice...That is the consequence of false prophets, even when they have good intentions. Out of ignorance and arrogance, they do more harm than good."
- No one can predict what is coming for New Yorkers. But previous behavior is often a good predictor of future behavior. One thing was clear from de Blasio's inaugural speech and the actions of the Obama administration in the last 5 years: both continue to convey the reality that there's the political class vs. the rest of America.
