SPEAKOUT: Loading the dice against responsibility

Columnist Campos' claims about racism riddled with confusions

By Ari Armstrong

Friday, January 18, 2008

The ever-subtle Rocky Mountain News columnist Paul Campos suggests that those who praise "individual responsibility" believe that "poor black people are disproportionately lazy, stupid and immoral." Campos adds that the same people also mock "the notion that the government (meaning you and me) can do anything but make things . . . even worse" for the chronically poor. (See Campos' Jan. 9 column, "Dice loaded against blacks.")

Campos' claims are riddled with confusions. There is no contradiction between upholding individual responsibility and finding problems with the circumstances in which the chronically poor find themselves. Nobody disputes the historical fact that slavery and racist laws and prejudices severely harmed black Americans.

But is racism the main cause of today's problems? Or, as I believe, have a variety of misguided government programs entrenched chronic poverty?

Myriad economic controls, along with payroll taxes of 15 percent, make it hard for the poor to get ahead. Welfare programs have discouraged work, encouraged broken families, and displaced voluntary charity. Government-run schools and other programs often underserve the poor. This is a real (and complicated) debate, and Campos cannot win it by unfairly insinuating that his opponents are racists.

Campos suggests that one must either blame individuals or blame their circumstances. Often that is a false alternative. In fact, as various black leaders have passionately argued, blacks trapped in poverty often exacerbate their own problems. (The point is true regardless of race.) Somebody who impregnates a teenage girl with no plans to raise the child cannot merely blame racists or the government for such behavior. Gangsters who rob and kill, and hook children on drugs are morally responsible for their acts.

The fact is that some people born into chronic poverty break the cycle, earn a decent education, and rise to the middle class or beyond. They are able to do it through strength of character. At the same time, others born to advantage waste their lives. As people should be blamed for their irresponsible behavior, so they should be praised for their achievements. Individual responsibility works both ways.

Campos claims that "the government" consists merely of "you and me," so why be skeptical of its potential for social planning? This is an odd claim, for Campos implies through his broader comments that some people are politically powerless. In fact, politics is plagued by interest groups and political payoffs. Are welfare programs somehow immune from such problems?

Campos' broader error is to ignore the particular nature of government. It makes a difference whether "you and I" rely on persuasion and voluntary interaction, or whether we bring to bear the force of government. I believe that it is precisely because political programs rely upon the forcible redistribution of wealth and the forcible restraint of voluntary interaction that such programs tend to miss their lofty aims.

That is not to say that government plays no legitimate role.

Government can be effective when it sticks to protecting people's rights - that is, preventing crime and protecting people and their property from violence. Higher crime is a major reason why the chronically poor have trouble getting ahead, and government dramatically improves the lot of the poor by protecting people's rights.

Campos fundamentally misrepresents the arguments of those who champion individual responsibility. Partly because of that, he also fails to make his own case. And for that I blame Paul Campos, not his background or circumstances. Individual responsibility applies to everyone.

Ari Armstrong edits FreeColorado.com and blogs at AriArmstrong.com. He is a resident of Westminster.

• January 18, 2008

  6:50 a.m.

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  vudumom writes:

  Paul Campos doesn't know any black people.I have many black friends back east and have known and still know many black people. They are hard working and some of them live a much better life if you want to compare who has what. They worked for it.
  Having known black people all my life since I was 5 and went to an all black Baptist church.The preacher was helping my mother who was trying to raise 3 children on her own.The church took us under their wing and helped us until my mother could get on her feet.
  After working very hard my mom got on her feet and we had to move to a different part of town. We had a black babysitter from The West Indies named Miss Cyndi. She was a hoot.I can still picture her and see her in my mind saying, Oh! Gosh!,in her West Indian accent when we did something wrong.I can still picture the macaroni and cheese she made all stuck together like a ball. We put ketchup on it because it was so dry and clumpy. We loved her like a member of our family which she was.After about 5 years she got married and her sister Miss Violet took over.These women taught the entire white neighborhood we lived in about respect for everyone. They used to pile a bunch of us in their car and take us and the kids in the neighborhood all over. They won over a white neighborhood with their manners and charm and the neghborhood eventually embraced them as a member of the family. This was in the 60's.I'm tired of people putting black people down and stereoytping them.They evidently don't know any.
  There is a welfare state of poor but their are lots of whites included in that as well as black.
  If people could see the black people who are not the stereotypical lazy,poor,baby machines,and gangstas they would understand Campos is out of his element.
  He probably can count on one hand the black people he knows.

  The dice are not loaded against blacks. That is a racial stereotype.The dice are loaded against poor people who refuse to get off their lazy butts and work.I know alot more white people who are on the governments dime than blacks.

  Paul Campos has a habit of painting groups and problems with a very broad brush to compensate for his small mind. Someone needs to whack him over the head with it.

• January 18, 2008

  7:26 a.m.

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  SASQUATCH writes:

  PC's inability to grasp the basic concepts of individual accountability, individual responsibility and individual freedom suggests more than just minor mental dysfunction. Thank God that he wasn't around when the Founding Fathers established our founding documents--the Declaration and the Constitution. Its a shame that the Rocky keeps this disciple of Karl Marx around and prints his pathetic garbage.

• January 18, 2008

  11 a.m.

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  PajamaPulitzer writes:

  Campos is a flaming liberal so we should not be surprised at his expressed bias. What should be surprising is the RMN willingness to give him voice. Imagine if the RMN had a columnist as far right as Campos is far left. The outrage would be immediate and unceasing. Anyone, whether left or right, should be sanctioned by the RMN for making such accusatory statements without basis. But I don't recommend that we hold our breath. Perhaps a subscription cancellation or two would garner some attention.

• January 18, 2008

  11:05 a.m.

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  gary writes:

  Well people, Paul Campos is teaching American students!! If that doesn't scare you...nothing will!!

• January 19, 2008

  11:54 a.m.

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  kathyM writes:

  And there are a zillion like him teaching American students at colleges all around the country.

• January 19, 2008

  4:10 p.m.

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  Jimminy writes:

  KathyM and Gary-there's linkage between your sentiments and the current financial difficulties faced by the university system.How about a moratorium on funding Liberal Arts degree programs? that's the outfit that spreads the societal VD known as political correctness.

• January 19, 2008

  9:58 p.m.

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  outrider writes:

  Campo is is out to lunch and so are all the posters I've read today. You are responsible for your own action and I don't give a damn what color you are. The facts don't lie only the people who make excuses.