National Review published an opinion piece on July 21 by Mike Stenhouse that points out the hypocrisy and ulterior motives of the Democrats testing the waters in local governments for reparations and aggressive “equity” policy agendas.
Progressives have been setting the stage for decades by conditioning people in Democratic strongholds to accept the bigotry with low expectations and instilled dependence. Progressives have maintained that systemic “white supremacy” is to blame for the problems faced by minority and urban communities.
It naturally leads to reparations as an obvious way to address the sins of previous generations. Of course, the ultimate beneficiaries of these kinds of programs are the same people who cause the problems “woke” politicians, white liberals, and self-appointed community “advocates.”
Last month, Providence, Rhode Island, moved forward with a plan for a municipal reparations program. The project is being advanced by Mayor Jorge Elorza and works from the assumption that minorities must have government subsidization to compete with whites. Despite its beliefs and promises, the program will follow the familiar path of funding-friendly institutions, administrators, and politicians.
The proposed Providence project will funnel funds first to an allied private school, the far-left Roger Williams University, located in Bristol, RI. Roger Williams University has been awarded $100,000 in grants from the city to design and oversee the reparations program. RWU has also designated the leftist advocacy group Providence Cultural Equity Initiative as a subcontractor.
Mayor Elorza has also announced a pilot program to provide a guaranteed minimum income to 110 Providence families with income under 200 percent of the federal poverty level. The mayor has been a member for some time of a national group called “Mayors for a Guaranteed Income” and is working to install himself as the governmental protector of people he believes can only succeed if he provides them with taxpayer money.
Stenhouse points out that reparations and guaranteed income payments have something in common with every progressive policy, a massive price tag. Whether the crisis is poverty, white supremacy, health care, or increasing temperatures, the “solutions” always involve rapid expansion of the state and its dependent institutions.
He also argues that the better alternative to reparations and guaranteed income for the poor of Providence is initiating school choice. Educational freedom would reduce costs while giving students and parents quality school options in addition to the disastrous public school system the city oversees.
As personal choices do not further enrich politicians, Stenhouse points out that it is not productive to wait around for them to propose rational alternatives.
