Wednesday, March 18, 2009

The flaw in 'mutual obligation'

Professor David Fergusson, head of the Christchurch Health and Development study, is urging greater parenting education.

The Government is being urged to ... expand a scheme providing parenting courses for parents of bad kids.

This will dovetail nicely with Mr Key's comments yesterday about National's big idea for welfare reform, 'mutual obligation'. And it will mollify National voters quite nicely.

But there is a real danger with this philosophy. As government is constantly in the business of 'sending messages' the one this clearly sends is, 'it's OK to be on welfare so long as you do a, b and c.'

But it's not OK for parents to be on welfare. Not merely by virtue of being parents.

Left liberals don't like that statement. That's why they spent decades successfully attempting to de-stigmatise being on a benefit. Now the centrist conservatives want to jump on the same band wagon.

How many people are on the DPB? Answer - 100,000. Do you want to 'Lock it in', John?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

"Now the centrist conservatives want to jump on the same band wagon."

What an idiotic comment.

Prove me wrong.

Identify one "centrist conservative" (blah) in National.

As if such a ridiculously convoluted damn description could ever be applied in the first place.

Libz.. so politically neutered they actually think National is something other than a far left version of extreme left Labour.

FFS, National are never going to come up with any REAL solutions not because they are friggen Conservatives (of any kind) but rather because their core philosophy has strayed so far, light years in fact, from Conservatism.

Inform yourself Mitch.

Put your Ayn Rand bible aside and read "Not Yours To Give".

For a start.

Here's another clue. Conservatives want government interfering in family life as much as Obama wants to shrink government.

WHY DON"T YOU KNOW THIS????