The Christmas Spirit

In a pre-Christmas conversation, a relative presented an observation about the United States: "We're a very generous nation. If anybody's going hungry, it's their own damn fault." I pointed out that there was something of a tension between those two assertions.

When I was practicing criminal defense law, I was exposed to a world of people I wouldn't otherwise know existed. People you probably will neither encounter nor notice if you live a standard U.S. middle class lifestyle. It is eye-opening to see the effects of multigenerational poverty, alcoholism, abuse, neglect, and drug addiction. It is rather appalling to see families who, like the proverbial crabs in a bucket, do their utmost to claw and pull any relative who attempts to escape the cycle back down into the bucket. It is sad to see people who are trying hard to improve their lot in life, but lack the requisite grounding in basic job skills to hold a decent job - what most of us consider to be "common sense" practices, such as getting to work on time, or the manner in which we address a supervisor or boss (even, or perhaps especially, when treated unfairly).

This is coupled with government policies which work to discourage marriage among the poor, by slashing benefits for many poor women who admit cohabitation or enter into marriage with the fathers of their children. If you want full benefits, you stay single - but, at least in part as a consequence, family units are far less stable, and many poor kids tend to grow up without a consistent father figure, or with siblings from several different fathers.

I do not mean to indict the entire social welfare system, as on the whole it works. The majority of welfare recipients use the aid to recover from a personal or financial crisis, and after about three years on average are back to self-sufficiency. The problem is that the system has both helped create a population which is completely dependent upon welfare, and despite the "reforms" of recent years continues to be structured in a manner which perpetuates dependency among that population.

When I read Jennifer Nicholson's "Christmas" column, Ebenezer Was Right, in the National Review Online, I was impressed with how a minor exposure to the world I saw on a daily basis as a criminal defense attorney had inspired an incredibly hostile reaction in Ms. Nicholson. While I was impressed with the need to find ways to break the cycle of poverty, Ms. Nicholson's reaction was of anger, spite, and on the whole a desire to ignore the problem - not because ignoring it will make it go away, but because she is at heart a selfish person.

Oh no, she would surely protest - she attended to the poor lady's kids, generously giving them food, support, and attention that they lacked at home. But what was her conclusion - that we need to find a way to help those kids escape the cycle despite poor parental role modeling? That we need to find a way to teach their mother greater job and parenting skills? No. It was to dismiss them all as human refuse - throw away the mother as a useless person, and let the kids go down with her - whether to jail or to the poor house. Merry Christmas.

Ms. Nicholson's column also reflects an inherent weakness of thinking - she (and the NRO editors who approved her column) are deeply in the grip of the "hasty generalization". It is easier for them to look at one individual, whether it be Ms. Nicholson's neighbor or the mythic "welfare queen in a Cadillac" who featured so prominently in Ronald Reagan's campaigning, than it is to look at the whole. And it is easier for them to argue that an entire population should be thrown away, than it is to suggest viable solutions.

Ms. Nicholson didn't focus on the efforts her neighbor was trying to make, but instead focused on her failings. The neighbor managed to obtain jobs, and was obviously trying to provide a better life for her family - but Ms. Nicholson focuses on the woman's difficulty holding a job, difficulty providing appropriate child care while working in menial jobs, and literally laments that she cannot give truth to Ebenezer Scrooge's desire for prisons and poorhouses for that type of person. Oh yes - and the neighbor she openly despised was not sufficiently grateful for the kindness Ms. Nicholson showed to her children. (Let's overlook the fact that she couldn't have avoided noticing the degree of antipathy held for her by Ms. Nicholson.)

The "hasty generalization" is used by people like Ms. Nicholson to justify no end of prejudice, anger, and even hatred. It becomes okay to hate poor people, because of the "ingratitude" of one poor neighbor. It becomes okay to hate black people "because my cousin was mugged by a black guy". It becomes okay to hate Arabs because there are a few Palestinian suicide bombers. Ad infinitum. Ad nauseum.

Ms. Nicholson's final sentiment,

Maybe, with the help of a jail and a poorhouse, the little family will get it together, discover the value of work. It's a long shot, but, as the magnet on my refrigerator says, "Dreams come true at Christmas."

is about as far from the Christmas spirit, and about as far from a Christian spirit, as one can get. It is no small wonder that she and her editors idolize Ebenezer Scrooge - who was similarly trapped in small-mindedness, greed, prejudice, and anger.

If you are a believer, your prayers this season no doubt include those less fortunate than you. You might want to add a word for those like Ms. Nicholson who have lost their way.

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