House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) appeared on Fox & Friends today and said that politicians shouldn’t try to capitalize on or prejudge the situation in Ferguson
“The first thing I do is don’t try to capitalize on this tragedy with your own policy initiatives,” Ryan said in an appearance on “Fox & Friends.” “Don’t try to link some prejudged conclusion on what’s happening on the ground right now.”
“What I don’t want to do, as a political leader, is try to graft my policy initiatives or my preferences onto this tragedy,” he added. “I think that would just be disrespectful.”
This appears to be Paul Ryan’s way of saying that we should hit the breaks an any change of policy that may prevent the next Ferguson from happening, but if now is not the time, when is the time?
The problem for Ryan is that he has already prejudged African American communities across the entire country and capitalized on the ongoing tragedy of poverty and inequality with garbage policy initiatives.
It was Social Engineer Paul Ryan who said earlier this year that “inner city” men (read: black) have been raised in an environment wherein several generations failed to learn the value of work or develop a strong work ethic. It was he who quoted Charles Murray, author of The Bell Curve and man who says that African Americans are poor because of bad genetics.
“We have got this tailspin of culture, in our inner cities in particular, of men not working and just generations of men not even thinking about working or learning to value the culture of work, so there is a real culture problem here that has to be dealt with.” -Paul Ryan
The Paul Ryan we all know would take a look at Ferguson, a predominately Africa American and underprivileged community, and “graft” his policy initiatives onto it. He already has.
The entire Republican party already has.
Let’s not forget they chose Paul Ryan to run for vice president in 2012 on a platform that was decidedly hostile to the interests and well-being of poor minorities. A platform that visited the NAACP and said they were just looking for “free stuff.”
The current situation in Ferguson is emblematic of the unequal society Paul Ryan has sought to perpetuate through several iterations of his Path to Prosperity initiative.
The unequal society Ryan would perpetuate contributes to the distrust, animosity, and the emotional distance between poor communities and those who govern them. Inequality exacerbates existing prejudice and racial tension and provides fodder to the progenitors of both.
Show me a prejudiced citizen, police officer, representative, or congressman and I’ll show you someone who more than likely (but not exclusively) votes in a manner consistent with Paul Ryan. I’ll show you someone who describes young black men as “thugs” and their families as “welfare queens.” It’s all the same game.