The hard time I had watching this video explains why goverment often fails or Why America will never be great again

This video was included in my YouTube recommendation videos to watch.

"Quincy may build parking lot around resident’s home"

"The family rejected an offer the city made for their two-family home in January because they thought it was too low."

“I’m sure they think they are” negotiating in good faith, Tasney said of city officials. “I’m on the other end; I’m the one they want the house from and I’m not interested in moving.” 

“Who wants to take up and leave where you’ve lived for 40 years? If I had to move I probably won’t find what I want in Quincy, but I’ve lived in Quincy all my life.”

“I think it was handled really bad. We didn’t have a chance to vote if we’d like to have this city take a bunch of houses on our street,” he said. “I feel like I’m being taken advantage of, and that’s it.”

 

 

The homeowner has the city right where they want him... or something.

NYT: Bloomberg, in Israel, Wins a $1 Million Prize, and Then Gives It Back

"Instead of pocketing what to him might be considered pocket change, Mr. Bloomberg and the Genesis organization announced a global competition with 10 prizes of $100,000 available to entrepreneurs ages 20 to 36 with big ideas, also based on Jewish values, to better the world."

“I wanted to pay it forward, so to speak,” Mr. Bloomberg told an audience in Jerusalem that included Israel’s black-hatted chief rabbi, a rumpled venture capitalist, graying former Soviet dissidents and Zionist war heroes. “To help others with the same sense of optimism and obligation, which is such an important part of Jewish tradition.”

With All Due Respect, Lack of Values Is The Problem

I respect the issue of race and understand that many have concerns, issues and anger related to race.  I'm not denying the validity of their beliefs.

However, we do need to consider the possibility that race is a blanket over a larger problem in segments of American society: a lack of values.

A lack of values for education,  hard work, sobriety, discipline, marriage, parenting, religion, respect of self and others, honesty, and chastity.

Bill Cosby explains it in a video broken into three segments.


Compare two neighborhoods - one with a relatively high level of success and one with a low level of success.  What is the real difference between the two neighborhoods?  It's easy to say that the difference is "race" or "money" or "privilege" because those words place blame and guilt on everyone, and at the same time on no one at all.

The real problem is values, or the rather the lack of values in our struggling neighborhoods, be they populated by black, white, brown or yellow skinned people. That is truly where the difference between successful and failing neighborhoods and communities resides.  The denigration of education, and of hard work.  The lack of adult commitment to marriage and family.  The sexualizing and thugizing of young men and young women.  The absence of fathers, mothers and sometimes both in children's lives. The failure to instill understanding or right and wrong, and of responsibility in children, beginning before they are in kindergarten.  The lack of proper adult role models.

Re-instill the need for values in people in struggling neighborhoods and communities, and many if not all of the problems attributed to race will be solved.

I expect this topic may engender a passionate response.  Comment away, but be aware, however, that name calling and snark are not going to be tolerated.