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THE URBAN POLICY AMERICA NEEDS
Last week's riots in Los Angeles horrified law-abiding Americans
everywhere. Ile disturbances trig- gered urgent demands for order
to be restored. But they also generated calls for action to deal
with the deep- seated frustrations of Americans living in poor
central-city neighborhoods-frustrations, it is said, that cre- ated
a tinderbox waiting to be ignitedL The danger is that the reaction
of lawmakers will be to administer yet another expensive dose of
the disastrous programs that are responsible for the collapse of
urban communi- ties, rather than to free those communities from
suffocating bureaucracy and a numbing welfare system. President
George Bush's first response to the violence in the Lo s Angeles
streets was wise and forceful. Public safety is the first priority
of government. And like other responsible political leaders, Bush-
made it clear to rioter and shocked bystander allke that order must
and will be restored. Tough action to guaran t ee safe streets is
in the interest of all racial groups. He also reminded America,
that the right way to deal with the perceived injustice of the
verdict in the trial of the four Los Angeles policemen is through a
swift and thorough investigation by the J u stice Depmtnent and, if
called for, prosecution in the federal courts. Bush next must
address the anger and hopelessness that created the environment for
the violence.'In doing so he must first reject the phoney argument
that what is needed is a "Marshall Plan" for urban Amer - ica. Vast
new public housing projects, even more generous welfare benefits
for single mothers, and anotheir army of social welfare
administrators will do nothing to improve America's cities. Indeed
it is such pro- grams, which under p inned the Great Society and
continue to be the basis of today's "anti-poverty" strategy, that
are the root cause of the problem. Public housing projects in most
cases have become crime-fidden pris- difs-65f ckspair, inner-city
public schools systematicall y fail their students and are
answerable to no one; the welfare system rewards single motherhood
and irresponsible fathers while penalizing working, intact fami-
lies; and a plethora of rules and regulations suffocate would-be
entrepreneurs in poor communi t ies. The last thing urban America
needs is to be struck again by that kind of helping hand.
Empowerment and Responsibility. Needed instead is an urban policy
that gives inner-city Americans a real stike in their own
neighborhoods and their family's future . This means -giving these
Americans effec- tive control over their own lives. When people
feel that others have the power to determine their economic and
social future, the result is frustration, resentment, and often
racial tension. But having a real sta k e also means a person must
take responsibility for his or her own life. Empowerment implies a
corresponding re- sponsibility. And empowerment is impossible
without peace and order in city streets. Thus Bush should demand
swift congressional action on meas u res now languishing on Capitol
Hill that would give inner-city Americans real power to determine
their own future. Among these: vo America 2000, which would begin
to give parents the chance to determine which school their child
at- tends-public or private -and thereby wrest control away from
administrative bureaucracies and teacher unions;
Enterprise Zones, which would reduce tax and regulatory obstacles
to Americans taking the risk of start- ing a business in blighted
neighborhoods;
Public Housing "Pere strolka," which would allow tenants in
run-down, troubled public housing projects to take over the
management of these projects from often corrupt local Public
Housing Authorities. This builds on the success of tenant-managed
projectsacross the country. E a ch of these proposals is bottled up
in Congress because the vast, paternalist welfare state bureaucracy
exerts enormous pressure on Congress to preserve its power to
micro-manage the lives of poor Americans, while the congressional
leadership refuses to c o nfront the welfare state lobby. Each
proposal is bottled up also because, so far, President Bush has not
given vigorous political support to those in his cabinet-most
notably Housing and Urban Development Secretary Jack Kemp-who are
spearheading the empow e rment strategy. What Bush should do is
explain to the American people why these measures are needed to
revive the cities, and say bluntly who is opposing them. Bush needs
in addition to help the efforts of governors and state legislators
to reform welfare , changing it hom a system that discourages
marriage, work, and family responsibility to one that encourages
each of these virtues. Today's welfare system, and the
irresponsibility it demands as the price for government aid, is
perhaps the leading cause of the destructive social and economic
environment in America's inner cities- the environment that made
the Los Angeles riots a possibility. Bush can help such overdue
welfare reform in three ways: First, he can direct federal agencies
to give top priority t o granting administrative exemptions from
fed- eral regulations, a process known as giving "waivers," to
innovative state proposals to reform the welfare system in ways
that would strengthen intact families and encourage work; Second,
he can-raise the prof i le of the.Commission on Urban Families,
chaired by Nfissouri Governor John Ashcroft. The Commission,
established this spring, is due to complete its work by the end of
the year. That report could become the blueprint for arresting the
decline of the inner - city family; and Third, he can submit
legislation to Congress to provide medical insurance vouchers and
grant more gener- ous tax relief for low-income working families
with children. These measures would give a powerful incen- tive for
many parents to le a ve the repressive welfare system and seek a
job. The Los Angeles riots did not happen, as some have charged,
because of the unwillingness of Americans to spend money on their
central cities. They happened because Americans spent hundreds of
billions of do l- lars over the last 25 years creating a
paternalistic and oppressive welfare state that has been a disaster
for urban America. Now it is time to liberate the inner cities.
Stuart M. Butler, Ph.D. Vice President Director of Domestic and
Economic Policy Studies
For further information: Stuart M. Butler, "Guidelines for
StateWelfare Reform," Heritage Lecture No. 346, October 30,1991.
Robert Rector, "How to Stmngthen Ameri&s Crumbling Families,"
Heritage Foundation Backgrounder No. 894, April 28, 1992.
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