A broad-ranging discussion of the gang phenomenon can be found at:http://www.ianr.unl.edu/pubs/family/g1294.htm#S&ECOND
One of the things they discuss is behavior-modeling (50 to 85% of gang members had parents with gang experience). What I didn't see and would like to see discussed is the extent to which the choices we make in government policy reinforce the gang candidate's view of the world, i.e., that force is what counts and you need to acquire it personally or by affiliation. The gang is America written small. After all, how much difference is there between a street gang and the enforcers of the Haitian military and Manuel Noriega? And this country found reason to support both. When we, as a society, make excuses for our liberal use of force to get results we want, we tell the impressionable among the youth that this is the true value in our society. We don't win by superior intelligence or attractiveness of our values. We win because we can treat those who oppose us violently. The Disciples understand that way of living better than any of us who play by just rules. _____________________________________________ I can only snicker at writers who, on the strength of an election, think 226 years of history has been cancelled. Remember in the 90's when the Republicans lost seats every election? Did that mean they were headed toward oblivion? Most observers think the war is the ONLY thing the Republicans have right now. So, cool your jets and keep a clear head. One thing I can say with some certainty. Neither the Green Party nor the Independence Party is ready to be the opposition in today's politics. I could more easily make the case that those two parties, ignoring the plurality rule and focusing only on getting free public money, have created the fortunes of the Republican Party. They were more crucial than the vast resources of the GOP treasury. They did to the Democrats what Teddy Roosevelt did to the Republicans in 1912. ____________________________________________ Most people in high school DO learn marketable skills there. Part of marketability is THE market. And there's a permanent percentage of workers who will be considered "normally unemployed" as part of policy to contain inflation. Moreover, the poor and the unemployed are not synonymous. A good chunk of those who work must live in poverty due to market pressures that keep earnings minimal. I think a lot of poor children come from families that shouldn't exist because they can only exist in poverty. Many parents think poverty is no barrier to being parents. By the way, poverty ALONE does not cause gang membership. Probably the majority of gang members come from broken families. Not all broken families are poor. But a higher percentage of poor families are broken than non-poor families. In a sense, gang members are the collateral damage of our economic policies. We favor "free markets" because they make the NATION rich. But they don't make the families in the nation automatically rich or healthy. There's a lot of destruction in all that creation, and some of that damage shows up as violence in our streets. ______________________________________________ With the thousands of laid off techies, what exactly are these "good jobs"? Which "good jobs" are going wanting for candidates? I know we need more registered nurses, but I don't think I would promote that career to youngsters because they would just be victimized by the insurance companies and hospital management. What exactly is a "good job". I wouldnt include teaching considering the rising tide of hostility toward teachers. No, I think we better put this fantasy-vision of "good jobs" aside and remember that drug dealer isn't a "good job", either. But it does deliver abundant cash faster than anything our regular economy has for the youth of America. A person is more likely to get a "good job" if they aren't focused too exclusively on consumption. ===== Jim Mork -- Cooper Neighborhood ________________________________ Help stop spam -- Join SpamCon Foundation, http://www.spamcon.org __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now. http://mailplus.yahoo.com _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
