Posted by
Rich on Friday, February 15, 2008 9:00:35 AM
The Sarasota Herald-Tribune again wants to do the same things in their editorial, "
Confronting violence" and they keep expecting different results. This is called insanity.
In
their editorial about growing gang and drug related violence they
lament the, "brutality roaring through our communities, from Rubonia to
Newtown to North Port and Punta Gorda. The stories are not uncommon in
our nation, but they are happening here, in long-troubled
neighborhoods, in normally peaceful public places, in streets where it
was once a common assumption that a child was safe to ride his bike."
Strong words. Sound like Baghdad? This is the fear they use to demand action. But what are their solutions?
"There
are marches. And forums. And candlelight vigils. And talk of building
parks and basketball courts and persuading young people early in their
lives to avoid gangs and drugs.
All of those efforts --
particularly, we emphasize, the call for a major reinvestment in
early-childhood education -- are commendable. Each initiative sends an
important message to cold-blooded killers that there are people here
who care, who will demand justice, who will not cower."
Gangs
will cower because we hold candle light vigils and invest in early
childhood education? I don't think so. Gangs are vicious, without
values and destructive. Our law enforcement must be as vicious in
attacking them and we must support their efforts.
They go on
to refer to a grand jury report on gangs that recommends better witness
protection programs, restricting bonds on gang members and more police
and prosecutors.
All of these are doing the same things and
expecting different results. None address the root causes of gang and
drug related violence.
We wrote two columns on gangs, "
Gangs and broken families" and "
Fix the flaw in Gun Datatbase".
Why do our youth join gangs?
According to
Dr. Gerald L. Zahorchak
in testimony to the U.S. Senate on January 19, 2007, "Research has
shown two major reasons, or 'root causes,' why young people join gangs.
First,
these kids seek a sense of identity and fellowship. A gang provides its
members with a degree of belonging the members think they cannot
achieve outside of the gang’s culture. In essence, the gang functions
as an extension of, or substitute for, the family or the community.
Second,
and perhaps ironically, these kids seek safety. Kids who live in an
area that is already overrun with gangs and who are subjected to gang
violence often join gangs in an attempt to obtain safety and protection
from the violence."
We believe that the solutions presented by
the Herald-Tribune article, which will most probably be embraced by our
politicians are off target and address the symptoms and not a cure.
The
cure is long term, requires a total change in our social behavior, is
against the current socially liberal mind set and requires a total
rethinking of our government programs.
The solution is build strong traditional families. It is that simple and that complex.
Here are a few ideas on how we can strengthen our families:
Mandate that there is a father and mother in every home with a child.
Subsidize traditional families at all levels of government - socially, morally and economically.
Implement government rules, processes, procedures, regulations, laws and taxes that support traditional families.
Repeal
any government rule, process, procedure, regulation, law or tax that
does not support traditional families or subsidizes/rewards single
parenting or divorce.
Punish single parenting and divorce - socially, morally and economically.
Celebrate marriage, traditional families, stay at home moms or dads, in wedlock child bearing, and healthy and safe homes.
Mandate we have in each family household with a child one of the parents work a full time job.
Mandate
couples be counseled by a church, synagogue, public or private
counselor on the roles and responsibilities of marriage before issuing
a license.
Mandate applicants for marriage licenses be tested for drugs and sexually transmitted diseases.
Mandate
sending every child to preschool at the church, synagogue, public or
private school that parents choose and pay for. For married couples
tuition is free.
Mandate every child in every school be tested randomly for drugs, including steroids.
Do
these sound draconian? Do they go against the grain of our current
social values? Or will they, and other ideas you may have, re-establish
the fundamental building block of our communities and our society - the
traditional family?
Strong families, fathers and mothers in
every home, drug free schools, churches and a community that completely
supports all four will eliminate our violence problem. Continuing to do
what we are doing will simply lead to more violence.
What do you think?