What is occurring in California, where a quarter of the children HAVE NEVER BEEN TO THE DENTIST, notwithstanding the availability of free or subsidized health care indicates that the Russian proverb is true.
The racial differences are noteworthy. Whites and Asian parents seem to realize that going to the dentist is something that shouldn't be avoided. Hispanics and esp. blacks? Not so much.
Offering a panoply of health services at public expense to parents of below-normal intelligence means you need an army of social workers guiding them through the process, which can be cumbersome and confusing even to an MIT-trained engineer. All very expense and Rube Goldbergesque, too. I want to say un-American.
And the thing is self-defeating. As taxes go up while crime rates and educational performance deteriorate, middle class flight is accelerated as community organizers call for the whole thing to be ratcheted up.
It reminds me that infant mortality is not so much a function of income level but of the mother's intelligence, which helps guide her behavior. I think I learned from the great Thomas Sowell (or Walter Williams) that blacks have a higher infant mortality in California than recent Mexican immigrants, who are lower on the economic ladder.
It's largely behavior-based. And in a republic the gubmit isn't supposed to be paternalistic like Cass Sunstein, an Obama friend and official advisor, wants it. We're supposed to take care of ourselves. But people are running away from freedom into security, which is a false fire.
At least when one looks at the results.
You can bring the horse to water but you can't make him drink.
The racial differences are noteworthy. Whites and Asian parents seem to realize that going to the dentist is something that shouldn't be avoided. Hispanics and esp. blacks? Not so much.
Offering a panoply of health services at public expense to parents of below-normal intelligence means you need an army of social workers guiding them through the process, which can be cumbersome and confusing even to an MIT-trained engineer. All very expense and Rube Goldbergesque, too. I want to say un-American.
And the thing is self-defeating. As taxes go up while crime rates and educational performance deteriorate, middle class flight is accelerated as community organizers call for the whole thing to be ratcheted up.
It reminds me that infant mortality is not so much a function of income level but of the mother's intelligence, which helps guide her behavior. I think I learned from the great Thomas Sowell (or Walter Williams) that blacks have a higher infant mortality in California than recent Mexican immigrants, who are lower on the economic ladder.
It's largely behavior-based. And in a republic the gubmit isn't supposed to be paternalistic like Cass Sunstein, an Obama friend and official advisor, wants it. We're supposed to take care of ourselves. But people are running away from freedom into security, which is a false fire.
At least when one looks at the results.
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