We’re being “Alloyed”

I see the word “alloyed” being used in print and the electronic and social media with increasing frequency. I have always known what the word meant in the metallurgical sense, but when referring to a privilege or a “right” I had to look it up. It means according to Merriam’s “something added that lowers value” Synonyms include the words—“adulterate, befouled and corrupted”. I saw the word used both by Jason Riley and on Fox in the context of the welfare state providing “an unalloyed good”. I like the usage in this context. Welfare benefits are in fact an example of an “alloyed good”. The value of the lives that such programs are applied to in the long term are devalued and marginalized. The short-term gains—and we were always told that these programs were to provide a bridge to being self-sufficient, have been more than offset by the unintended economic consequences that are the result of incentivizing behaviors that in the end fail to benefit individuals, families, and societies at large.

I also have come to believe that those bureaucracies that have been built up around “The Great Society” programs have evolved into political economic conduits that have today been purposely redirected from programs for helping people into programs to control society. The people who have been hurt the most have been poor people not just people of color—West Virginia and areas of Appalachia on the doorstep of where I grew up in Ohio (read Hillbilly Elegy) and many of the forgotten poor in our rural areas are some of the “Whitest” and poorest people living in the USA. There are far more white people living under conditions of poverty than any other group. There are 30 million White people living below the poverty level ($23,000/year) compared to 10 million Black people. Because Blacks make up only 13% of our population and whites make up 60%, a Black person is three times more likely to be impoverished than a white person.

Since twenty years after its’ founding the modern day Democratic Party has been the party of racism, Jim Crow, grinding segregation—and not just in the Southern states but places like Shaker Heights, Upper Arlington, Bethesda, Beacon Hill Back Bay, Swarthmore, and Bryn Mayr. Democratic New York Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan—compare him to “Chucky-Shoe”, warned us about the marginalization and devaluation of people who would become willingly subjugated by Federal subsidies. Generational poverty and marginalization were the anticipated end results of such programs. Is being indentured by a government any different than being indentured by an employer or an economic system where the price of one’s labor is preset by a government commissar or regulator (socialism or any of the Totalitarian—isms)?

Today it is not just Democrats but many RHINOs in Washington and Boise who have jumped on the bandwagon. Racism and the many forms of “condescenionism” has become more than a noun describing an ugly belief in the idea of the superiority of an individual or group based on the color of their skin, but is now used as a way to end a contentious (or even non-contentious) intellectual argument. It is an excuse NOT TO ENGAGE. And when used in this fashion it detracts from people coming together to find common solutions. But just like the progressives in both parties are using the welfare state as a means of controlling the electorate, they also are trying to censure debate, because they know the debate is not about poverty, or race, or upward mobility but about control.

Please let me make my case about the impact of “The Great Society” programs of the mid 1960’s. The overall dependency on the government for food, shelter, and “the necessities of life” have since increased. Between the beginning of WWII and 1965 the percentage of poor Blacks declined by 40 points—twice the rate of decline of poor Whites. Years of education, income, neonatal and lifetime mortality rates, all improved amongst the poor, Black and White —but Blacks at a faster rate. After 1965 and the implementation of the “Great Society” initiatives, labor force participation rates fell, unemployment rates increased, the nuclear home especially in Black communities disintegrated—prior to 1960 70% of Black children were raised in a two-parent family—today that is 20%. The breakdown of the family is also associated with increasing rates of violent crime and homicides that were decreasing in 1960 by 35%. They are now increasing and continue to worsen today. The Democrats can now add to their legacy of slavery, Jim Crow, the legacy of the welfare State interventions that are only increasing despite all the evidence regarding the harm inflicted on individuals, families, and society. And the RHINO Republicans who have bought into this narrative—especially those in Idaho who call themselves “conservative”, are also to blame.

What about upward mobility of all poor people? A Harvard political scientist Robert Putman wrote that “overall, African American incomes rose relative to white incomes faster in the first two thirds of the twentieth century” with the income levels of both races converging before 1970. Incomes of both groups increased faster before 1970 than after, and we haven’t begun to talk about subsidizing drug abuse and abortions—especially amongst the poor.

Economists since Adam Smith have struggled with how to put a value on “human capital”. Measures like a countries GDP, or per capita productivity or comparing the efficiencies of various economic systems don’t tell the whole story. Impossible to measure but of great importance is an individual’s “self-worth”. “Wellbeing” cannot be measured at all. I would love for Republicans in Idaho at all levels of government to stand up against “paternalism and emotionalism”. Until then, a larger swath of a less productive population will drag not only productive people down, but those truly in need of a helping hand will have an ever-decreasing ability to access vital services.

We all have commitments in life. Our God, our family, our country, trying to do what is right even when it is unpopular. There is a lot of “noise” in the world, status, money, following the crowd (popularity) and professional reputation, and we are often tempted to violate a Providential truth that encourages us to forget our commitments and priorities. These are issues where there is no wiggle room for negotiation or compromise—think abortion and 2^nd Amendment. It also seems to me that what is important to me, and my family is not always considered to be important to those who represent us in Boise and Washington. Please feel free to compromise where “prudential truths are in play”—immigration, taxes, and budget issues. It is important for everyone—politicians included, to not negotiate or compromise when WE The People’s “Providential” truth is at stake. As Chip Gaines tells us: “People who are willing to negotiate anything can end up standing for nothing. People who hold on to their {Providential Truth}—italics mine, erase the space between who they are and who they (and we) were destined to be”.

From now on when I hear that a politician has capitulated to the will of a lobbyist or special interest, instead of saying, “We’ve been sc***ed,” I’ll just say, “we’ve been ‘alloyed’—again.”

 MIGA (Make Idaho Great Again) “Fight Like Hell”