<p>Naturally - what I expect of our Government leaders is leadership. </p>
<p>And that means telling the relevant communities that the problem of poverty and poor educational development DOES NOT mostly stem from racism, capitalism, or any other form of ism, but rather from the poor life strategy decision of having a child without an intact and stable two parent home to take care of that child. Moreover, communities must begin to stigmatize this behavior as it has given rise to a growing parasitic class economically, with fewer and fewer productive people to pay for it all. </p>
<p>And no - this is not some moral religious issue. It is simply a question of sound judgment and life strategy - have a kid in circumstances in which it cannot be properly cared for, and the life prospects for the mother and the child are dim. </p>
<p>Tough talk about sexual irresponsibility is in order. And in anticipation of arguments that this problem is due to the teaching of abstinence only education - bull - let’s make people responsible for themselves. I don’t at all agree with abstinence only education because it is naive and does not work - but let’s tackle the problem head on, no matter how many feelings we hurt. </p>
<p>Kay Hymowitz, a noted researcher on marriage, points out that the women most able to handle single motherhood - in her example - the highly paid single mother senior associate/young partner at a New York law firm, rush towards marriage in droves, and have children only after they are married. They realize even at their income level that marriage is the key to their offspring having a middle class life. Of course, in some of these communities, there is a shortage of marriageable men. But that argues again that there is a significant cultural problem in these communities that is of a far greater order than that caused by any identifiable ism.</p>