Clearly he thinks either that welfare pays far more than it really does, or that black women are abysmally stupid.

Contrary to the “welfare queen” myth, welfare benefits, including both Temporary Assistance for Needy Families and food stamps in 2010, was only 54 percent of the poverty level in Oklahoma. It was 81 percent in the most generous state, New York.

The poverty level is far below what most might imagine. For a family of three, it is only $18,310. That is not living high on the hog.

Whatever the faults of the mother, it is morally wrong to take it out on the child. Without help, many of them will go hungry. Furthermore, many on the far right wish to deny women access to contraception, the very thing which might prevent the need to raise a child without the means of doing so.

Furlong mentions that blacks showed more upward mobility from World War II to 1964 than the period afterwards, supposedly as proof that welfare failed. But that is a fallacy, as it assumes the only thing of consequence after WWII was the Great Society. I don’t think so.

Finally, he refers to 200 years of government generosity toward American Indians. Wow. The government was indeed very generous in taking their land, forcing them at gunpoint to live on reservations, robbing them of oil royalties, and using schools in an attempt to destroy their culture.

Michael Hopkins
Norman

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