ParisTampaBlog

If Heather Mac Donald is correct about government not being able to create personal responsibility and drive in individuals what can government do to 1) overcome poverty, and 2) overcome illiteracy? Can anyone, can any one program, help individuals without personal responsibility and drive to acquire them?

Oportunidades is saying that cash payments will make an individual’s behavior more responsible. In exchange for cash the  impoverished parent, often a single mother, may very well take her children to health clinics, see that her children attend school regularly, see that they eat properly.

It’s probably true that Heather Mac Donald is right and that the Mexican government hasn’t created personal responsibility and drive where they didn’t exist, but the government program, Oportunidades, seems to show that cash payments will make people at least appear to be responsible in their actions. Perhaps that’s the best we can do.

This entry was posted on December 21, 2008 at 11:27 am and is filed under Thoughts. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site.