The Bigotry of Low Expectations

NPR finally made mention of the recent ACORN scandal. (Charlie Gibson still hasn't heard of it, though.) Credit Frank James at NPR for covering the story in a manner that puts most of the left-wing establishment media to shame. James makes the following accurate observation:

"Instead of wasting funds on lawsuits, ACORN might want to consider doing more intensive training of its workers and testing them with its own undercover testers."

Unfortunately, he concludes his story by indulging in what George Bush (or one of his speech writers) so eloquently referred to as "the soft bigotry of low expectation."

"It's also important to keep in mind that ACORN's workers are coming from the same low-income neighborhoods the organization serves, with all that entails - poor schools, high crime and the sorts of social problems that have been documented for decades.

So the flaws conservatives are pointing out about ACORN are not so much about problems associated with that organization per se, but more about the problems of being poor and minority in urban America."

It's true that the neglect of inner city school children is morally wrong and possibly criminal. But it is arguably the systemic root of much of what ails America. The liberal government policies dating back three generations have served to warehouse the poor while creating financial incentives to underachieve. Welfare policies encourage the poorest to forgo savings, to ignore career and college ambitions and have multiple children outside of marriage.

Even so, it is sick and condescending to assume that the poor lack any moral compass. Do you have to be middle class to know that importing children for the purpose of child prostitution, cheating on taxes, lying to the government and abusing people, particularly children is wrong?

Such lack of expectations born of liberal guilt is tragic but telling.

This isn't The Wire. These aren't street level drug dealers at the mercy of a politically confused drug war. These are employees of a government funded organization who blithely conspire to rape little girls and to violate tax laws. And I do thank you for pointing out who trained them. Yes, ACORN did. But why fail to mention that this organization has yet to apologize, or to thank the film crew for bringing this horror to their attention so they can fix the problem?

If we can't expect coverage from the left wing establishment media, could we at least expect their outrage?