The Outstater
Our ‘Somali Mindset’
WHY, REALLY, do the impoverished want to come to America? Is it the promises embedded in our Declaration of Independence? Perhaps a legal system based on 800 years of Common Law and respect for private property? Liberty with responsibility?
That would make us proud. But why is it, to pick an example from the news, that 75 percent of Somalis in the U.S. are unemployed? And should we be glad that an estimated 10,000 Haitians have relocated to Evansville? Or that there soon will be enough Muslims in Indianapolis to swing a mayoral primary?
My concern is that the draw has to do with a single disturbing fact: America has become a place where the poorest get three-fourths of their “income” from government handouts.
That is according to a new Congressional Budget Office study. Not too long ago, by contrast, the poor here earned fully two-thirds of their income from an actual job. This corresponds to an increase in what historians someday might call “the Somali mindset.”
All of which condenses to a simple question: Could the attraction be that in America you don’t have to work?
“What this overall trend tells us is that work requirements for the able-bodied aren’t being enforced,” contends the blog Unleash Prosperity. “Federal programs have for millions become a substitute for work, not an income supplement.”
Sen. Jim Banks would balance at least one part of this sorry equation. Sponsors of immigrants are required to reimburse the government for welfare benefits like Medicaid and SNAP costs. Indeed, that has been the law for decades, the senator notes, but it too is largely ignored.
Please know that none of this is flattering. — tcl
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