Those common sense words of Carson's were common fifty years ago for most Americans. But, of course, now liberals are shrieking that the game is rigged, and poor people are being deliberately held down.
To be a conservative i.e. realist means to accept the fact that some people will succeed more than others, and some people will outright fail on their own efforts.
But liberals love to point fingers and tell people it's somebody else's fault they're miserable. You didn't fail because you hated school and never studied, got into trouble with the law, or had children when you were fifteen.
No, it's that person over there minding his or her own business who caused you to fail. Blame them say the libs.
That's overstating the case. I don't think Carson is saying that all poor people are poor and on welfare because of bad attitudes. It's more complicated than that.
People end up poor, and usually in the welfare system, for all sorts of reasons -- a lot of times not willingly, and sometimes through circumstances over which they had no control. And once a person or family is in the system, it's bloody hard to get back out, especially if dependents are involved.
Carson is quite correct that the proper mindset can help people get out of the welfare system. But the system itself is also rigged to keep people in it. For example, suppose a woman with kids is on welfare. She might want to get a job, but in so doing she loses benefits and ends up being unable to pay rent -- so the obvious incentive is for her to remain unemployed.
There are, of course, those on welfare who figure that the world owes them a check every month, and those are the ones Carson is really talking about -- a change of attitude on their part could make a world of difference.
But for those who want out of welfare but can't afford to do it .... it seems to me that a system designed to help people get out of it would be a lot better than what we've got now.
