Outing of SF Jewish Republican

I'm a Republican because I'm deeply concerned that we are creating a permanent underclass in America. Our nation's poor -- the bottom 5% of wage earners, live in a society that the remaining 95% would hardly recognize as being American and would certainly not wish upon any citizen.

In a country as rich and powerful as the United States -- this is a true tragedy, one we must fix.

Most of our nation's poor live in decrepit housing, with little healthcare, significantly lower life expectations, and no access to a good education -- and most are on public assistance. Poor adult women are confined to a life of welfare. Poor adult men disproportionately spend a significant part of their life in jail (over two million people in the U.S. are in prison -- and very few inmates are rehabilitated in prison -- most only get worse).

Our society is turning a blind eye to this problem. It both infuriates and saddens me that there is virtually no one speaking about real solutions to this problem. How can we sit back and just letting this happen? Some people say only the Democratic Party is the party of little guy. I disagree. So how I did I change my stripes?

My political evolution

I grew up as a Democrat. During college at UC Berkeley, I started to fall in love with Libertarian ideals. I read Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead, Anthem, and Atlas Shrugged. Rand's philosophy of Objectivism appealed to a young, intelligent individual who saw the entire world ahead of him. But it also appealed to someone who lead a particularly sheltered life and who had not seen much of the poor and those less fortunate.

By the end of college I started to feel more compassionate for others and decided the Libertarian ideology was too self-centered for me. I looked to the Democratic Party, but their plans, while well-intentioned, didn't seem to have much effect on the poor. So I took a fresh look at the Republican Party and did a little comparison. Here is what I came up with:

Democrats say -- "Give a man a fish"
Republicans say -- "Teach a man to fish"
Libertarians say -- "Go fish!"

I think our society should strive to institute the toolset -- to teach a man to fish. This means government has an important role to play in helping improve the society in which we live.

I'm a Republican because I care.

I'm a Republican not just because I care about our nation's poor (I hope everyone does) but also because I cannot accept living in a nation that looks the other way and hands out tiny band-aids to cover up gaping holes.

I'm a Republican not just because I cannot accept this disastrous problem, but also because I want real solutions. Not band-aids -- I want results. I think we should strive for a society where no one -- absolutely NO PERSON -- is condemned to a life of misery just because the dice got rolled the wrong way and they just happened to be born to an impoverished family.

I still believe in America the Beautiful -- but as Edmund Burke once said, "Beauty is the promise of happiness" -- and many Americans cannot believe in the inner beauty of a country that doesn't serve them.

Many poor children don't even have big dreams. Though most people in this world never achieve their dreams -- everyone should have a wish and everyone should be given a toolset to allow them to chase that wish if they have the inner ethic to do so.

Where I grew up in Westchester County, NY (now home to Bill and Hillary Clinton), most people I knew were just like my family and I: Democrats. I grew up in a nice neighborhood with good schools. My parents chose to move from Staten Island to Westchester when I was five so I would have the opportunity to go to a great public school. And I'm extremely grateful to them for doing that. From our perch in Westchester, we viewed social problems with a shared outlook, born of our Democratic belief in "giving a man a fish. It's the compassionate thing to do."

From Westchester, I went to UC Berkeley -- another fine public school. Unlike some of my neighbors in Westchester, my family was not wealthy. My parents couldn't afford an SAT prep course ($500) so I had to settle for a SAT prep book ($20). I had to work 25 hours/week in high school to save money to pay for college. I learned that you don't have to be born rich to succeed in America but you do need to have the toolset to dream and to take advantage of opportunities.

Still, millions of kids don't have the same opportunities that I did. Millions of kids' parents cannot afford to make that choice to send their kids to a better school. Millions of kids are forced to go to schools that are war zones, that don't promote learning, and/or just don't cater to a kid who has a mom on welfare (doesn't vote), a father in jail (not allowed to vote), and a pregnant 15-year-old sister (too young to vote).

We need to start caring about that kid (it is going to be tremendously more difficult to provide real opportunity to the parents). We need to give people opportunities early in life.

We need to start giving that kid a promise of beauty -- so he or she can believe and benefit from America the Beautiful.

What exactly can we do?

The most important thing we can do is to give kids an opportunity to get a better education now. The only way they will be able to overcome adversity (which isn't easy) is if we can help them build a real toolbox of skills, knowledge, drive, and understanding. Right now our bottom 5% of schools are failing our kids and therefore failing society.

... what are we going to do about it?

One proposal is to prop up the school they are currently going to -- give it more money and resources -- and make some smart reforms in education so that the school can get better. This is a GOOD idea -- and it should be done. But it will take TEN YEARS MINIMUM (probably more since very few failing schools have been able to reform themselves) to really convert a bad school to a good school.

Are we going to subject another generation of kids to a life of despair while we try to improve our current schools over the next ten years?

Is this fair?

That might be worth the sacrifice if it isn't your kid going to one of these failing schools. But we should not sacrifice kids -- not even one kid.

These kids need an opportunity to go to a better school now. These kids need school choice.

Kids should not have to be subjected to the very worst performing schools (the bottom 5% of schools). Kids attending poor schools should have the civil right to go to a better school so that they can pursue the American Dream. They should be given a choice to attend a local charter school or a private school -- or even a parochial school. Now many Democrats get up in arms about this -- "how can you mix church and state?" they ask. I'm not for proselytizing to kids -- I think that is a bad idea -- but it is a far worse evil to subject a kid to a life of never being able to pursue the American Dream because they went to a bad school.

But even among Democrats, school choice is a splitting issue. While most Democrats are against school choice, 68% of African-Americans and 65% of Hispanics support it (those numbers are from a poll by Public Agenda that even used the evil word "vouchers").

President Bush often talks about "leaving no child behind" -- and we can't.

Now I'm not saying that all Republican leaders really care. Many Republicans (and Democrats, for that matter) are not dedicated to ending poverty. But even these Republicans support dynamic solutions like school choice that would go a long way to ending poverty.

I have been extremely fortunate. I quickly experienced the American Dream -- experienced it beyond what I could have ever hoped at a very young age (I'm now just 28). And I started to realize that I was one of the lucky 95% that have the tools to achieve big dreams -- I wouldn't be the person I am today if I was born into poverty -- and that's not fair.