The welfare state is unsustainable economically, socially and morally.
Monday, December 27, 2010
Readership increases by a factor of ten thousand
To my surprise the NZ Herald published my latest submission. Not that they never publish me, but it was fairly hard-hitting. The comments facility will no doubt produce some stern detraction.
16 comments:
Anonymous
said...
I have just read it and am surprised such a piece of common sense was published in the Herald. Thank You.
I hope this piece gets more Kiwi's thinking that they are not alone in thinking such thoughts. This may be the way we finally confront the facts about child abuse.
Well done. It reads really well. Straight to the point. Just hold your breath when you read the abusive comments which will follow, it means you are right! Deborah Coddington
Congratulations Lindsay. It is great to see such stuff in print. To others on the right, Granny Herald is there for us all for well written articles. Please use it, don't let the left have it all to themselves.
Brilliant. Much more of this please- ought to be article of the year -let's slip it into next year. Why are we always running in a circle around this issue and yet not have the courage, as you have, to confront it and do something? So pleased we have someone like you to get to the central issue.
Congratulations Lindsay, on getting such a well-reasoned piece of uncommonly common-sense published in the Herald! I hope Paula Bennett reads your piece, and picks up the telephone. Lord knows, she needs help in this area. I note (12.23am, 28/12/2010 NZT) no comments have successfully made it through moderation on the Herald website.
OK, so lets say that throwing money at the problem is actually exacerbating it. Are you suggesting that the DPB or whatever, should simply be cut off? Just how would you pull back the situation we now have? The sentiments expressed in your Herald article has been around in one form or another since the mid 80s. Why don't governments act given that few of the welfare recipient you describe bother to vote and therefore don't represent any sort of power bloc?. Ian.
Despite being given financial support, counselling services and God knows what other assistance, some welfare recipients are atrocious parents. We would consider many DPB recipients unemployable yet we expect them to be responsible parents. I believe, most women who don't want to work or who are unemployable, would not choose to have a child, if the DPB did not exist. Sure there may still be some unwanted pregnancies but if a woman does not have a partner who is able to financially support her, or she is not willing to work herself, I doubt that she will be willing to make the sacrifices necessary to raise a child properly. Hence, I do not understand why we give money to people to raise children when we know they are incompetent parents.
Comments are not moderated but will be deleted if they are abusive. Non-deletion of comments does not imply approval or agreement with the sentiments expressed.
Lindsay Mitchell has been researching and commenting on welfare since 2001. Many of her articles have been published in mainstream media and she has appeared on radio,tv and before select committees discussing issues relating to welfare. Lindsay is also an artist who works under commission and exhibits at Wellington, New Zealand, galleries.
16 comments:
I have just read it and am surprised such a piece of common sense was published in the Herald. Thank You.
I hope this piece gets more Kiwi's thinking that they are not alone in thinking such thoughts. This may be the way we finally confront the facts about child abuse.
Well done. It reads really well. Straight to the point. Just hold your breath when you read the abusive comments which will follow, it means you are right!
Deborah Coddington
Well done Lindsay
Nothing like a good dose of truth
Good grief! The Herald putting commonsense and truth before ideology!
Heads will roll for this.....
I left a supportive comment - hours ago. Not yet published.
Congratulations Lindsay.
It is great to see such stuff in print.
To others on the right, Granny Herald is there for us all for well written articles.
Please use it, don't let the left have it all to themselves.
I'm also a fan.
Excellent article. Congratulations for getting it published on that bastion of the left.
Keep up the good work.
Brilliant. Much more of this please- ought to be article of the year -let's slip it into next year.
Why are we always running in a circle around this issue and yet not have the courage, as you have, to confront it and do something?
So pleased we have someone like you to get to the central issue.
Congratulations Lindsay, on getting such a well-reasoned piece of uncommonly common-sense published in the Herald! I hope Paula Bennett reads your piece, and picks up the telephone. Lord knows, she needs help in this area. I note (12.23am, 28/12/2010 NZT) no comments have successfully made it through moderation on the Herald website.
Well-said, as always!
OK, so lets say that throwing money at the problem is actually exacerbating it. Are you suggesting that the DPB or whatever, should simply be cut off? Just how would you pull back the situation we now have? The sentiments expressed in your Herald article has been around in one form or another since the mid 80s. Why don't governments act given that few of the welfare recipient you describe bother to vote and therefore don't represent any sort of power bloc?. Ian.
Ian, My suggestions are summarised here http://www.nzbr.org.nz/site/nzbr/files/publications/maori%20and%20welfare%20by%20lm%20final.pdf
You're now famous, Lindsay, but not for your art, in this case. Well done. Hope something is done, and CYFS has a re-think of their system.
Great article Lindsay!
Despite being given financial support, counselling services and God knows what other assistance, some welfare recipients are atrocious parents.
We would consider many DPB recipients unemployable yet we expect them to be responsible parents. I believe, most women who don't want to work or who are unemployable, would not choose to have a child, if the DPB did not exist. Sure there may still be some unwanted pregnancies but if a woman does not have a partner who is able to financially support her, or she is not willing to work herself, I doubt that she will be willing to make the sacrifices necessary to raise a child properly. Hence, I do not understand why we give money to people to raise children when we know they are incompetent parents.
Gloria
Lindsay, I'm sure you have read this exceptional essay ("What is poverty?"), nevertheless I'm taking the liberty of providing a link to it:
http://www.city-journal.org/html/9_2_oh_to_be.html
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