Cobb: Bastardy & Black Republicans

January 20, 2001

Bastardy & Black Republicans

as for the matter of 'black' illegitimacy itself, i believe that you and i have a chicken and egg problem as well as a boundary problem.

first the chicken and egg problem:
this problem is the most difficult to state and qualify. i can only put it briefly, then we'll have to dig down into the assumptions. if you believe that race is neutral and that humans basically want to raise children with two parents, then the black statistical exception must be caused primarily by external factors. the cultural component on one side or the other of 'mainstream' statistics is real, but considering the diminishment of such cultural factors expressed by black republicans, for example, one must concede the primacy of the external factors. in my book those external factors are in direct alignment with the geography of jim crow, not with *being* african american, but with growing up in the ghettoes created for blacks in this country.

second, the boundary problem:
i believe a select few things about family, but in the context of american politics and government, i am bound as a citizen to respect quite a few more. and yes that takes into consideration feminist and gay positions.

in all matters of politics, i consider what the nation can do to solve problems. if it illegitimacy were indeed a race-bound problem which in fact was the single most important problem facing a significan minority of americans, then we as a nation should be duty bound to aid and abet them and solve this problem. and if that problem were caused by some structural defect in our nation, then the government has some responsibility to correct that defect head on.

add the following real complication. there is a moral component to the specific problem of illegitimacy. indeed the very term illegitimacy sound neutral but it is not. henceforth i will use the terms 'bastardy' and 'bastards' to express that negative moral component more directly.

the dilemma of the boundary problem is that a government employed to defend the strength of the nation should address the effects of bastardy from a morally neutral position. the government should not reflect on the matter, or cause other citizens to reflect on the matter that bastards surround these structural defects in our nation. rather the defects should be eliminated straight away. but specifically speaking about the dysfunctions which inevitably result from bastardy generates such moral outrage that government action is blocked. it is blocked by *moral* politics, rather than by limits on the practical capacity of the goverment. the structural defect is thereby occluded, not addressed by government in its nation building mission and duty to its citizens and bastardy increases - chicken and egg.

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the solution lies directly in front of our eyes in the person of black republicans. it is not a coincidence that you will find none of them in america's black ghettoes. you will find them mixing nicely in the professional ranks of the military and clean, modern suburban mixed race neighborhoods.

Posted by mbowen at January 20, 2001 07:25 PM

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