Is it inevitable that America must head down this road? Not by a long shot. Keep in mind this discussion I had with the good Dr. Charles Krauthammer on The Factor after some college students at UC Davis went wild over a tuition increase:

O"REILLY: The irony here is that some of those students want America to be an ent.i.tlement society, but when the money runs out as [it has] in California, they run amok.... Charles, how bad do you think the ent.i.tlement society in America is right now, and is gonna get?

KRAUTHAMMER: Well, judging from those young people, who appear rather agitated that they are not having their college education subsidized enough, I say it"s getting out of control. Because remember, who pays the taxes that support their college education? Three quarters of Americans have no college degree. I think the answer to your question is a little bit complex. I think the majority of Americans don"t want to give up the ent.i.tlements they already have, but I think the majority of Americans don"t want to add onto it, and to become like a European social democratic society.

O"REILLY: Now why is that? Because the taxes then rise so high that individual achievement is robbed and that the American dream shrinks because you just don"t have the cash to do it because you"re giving the government the cash. Is that the reason?

KRAUTHAMMER: That is the reason, and what we had was a spontaneous uprising, if you like. A peaceful one, of course, in the United States. The Tea Parties, the town hall meetings ... all said very loud and clear, "Yes, we like our Social Security but we are not going to add onto it with a new healthcare ent.i.tlement. We know we"re going over a cliff with taxes and debt, and as a result we want to stay where we are, stay Americans with some protections. We"re not going to get rid of the New Deal, or even the Great Society or Medicare, but no new stuff." And that"s what the fight over healthcare is all about.

O"REILLY: It is. It is about that and about smaller versus larger government. However, the younger people that we saw out in California, they have a different view when you look at the polling about healthcare. The younger the American is, the more likely they are to support it. So that tells me that the new generation wants the government to be a nanny state.

KRAUTHAMMER: Except that the new generation is going to get older. And they"re going to have a family, and they"re going to have kids, they"re going to have payments, they"re going to have a mortgage and they"re going to pay taxes. And they won"t like the taxes. Those kids out there aren"t paying a lot of taxes. And as they become adults, they are not going to have the same political att.i.tudes as they had at eighteen, when you"re wild, you"re free, and subsidized.

O"REILLY: Why do you think people in Scandinavia, who are just about the same as Americans-Scandinavians come here, there"s no difference basically-why do you think they want the nanny state in places like Sweden? Not Norway so much, but Denmark, Sweden, France-France isn"t in Scandinavia-what is the mentality that Western Europeans have that they want to be taken care of?

KRAUTHAMMER: Well, remember they"re not the same as us because it was the more independent ones, the ones who didn"t like the strictures of government, the regulations, the religious oppression, who came here. This spirit of being independent and not wanting to be controlled by the government is something that is intrinsic in America, it"s the essence of America, it"s what distinguishes Americans who are essentially refugees of the old society in Europe. That"s why it"s always been harder to make Americans break to the yoke of government as happened in Europe. Once you get accustomed to the kinds of ent.i.tlements that you have in Sweden, England, France, elsewhere, it doesn"t get undone. And America is different-it"s resisting the imposition of new yokes. And that"s what"s happening today.

That"s what we have to remain vigilant about-remembering that America was forged in independence, and not for government to impose its will like in so many European countries. This is such an important fight for our future.

CHAPTER THREE

MINORITY REPORT

The Obstacles, the Search for Answers, and the Case of the Sharpening Divide

Old white men may be becoming fewer and fewer at the ballot box. That"s arguably a numerical minority down the road, and we"ll see what that means for traditional America soon enough.

But the historical meaning of "minority" in this country is a shameful, often brutal story. We have to admit that.

The sad truth is that for more than two hundred years most black Americans were systematically deprived of the right to pursue happiness, and Native Americans were brutalized as America was being settled. Thus, the government today does owe African and Native Americans, and the poor in general, more attention and specific ent.i.tlement programs to help level the playing field. On that most traditionalists and S-Ps can agree.

Surprised?

You shouldn"t be.

Key words: "to help level the playing field."

And the playing field is as tough today, in many cities, as it was when I began working as a TV news reporter long, long ago.

Cops and prosecutors know that it"s impossible to enforce the law in any neighborhood if there is not cooperation between the people who live there and the authorities. In rich neighborhoods, most people love the police. They wave at them and smile and give them Christmas presents.

All is fine between the police and the citizenry.

Not so in the ghettos. Suspicion and animosity exist between the police and many poor people, and each side has valid reasons for the distrust. The cops know they are disliked, and they know the streets are dangerous. The folks know the police are sometimes resentful of the danger and hostility they face-and that resentment sometimes spills over into unpleasant confrontations, even with law-abiding citizens. Fear is present on both sides. And fear will always cause hostility.

Violent crime and drug dealing in the nation"s minority precincts are often completely out of control. The police who patrol these areas are sometimes frightened and always on the defensive. They are tense, and this often leads to aggression and poor judgment. We are talking about human nature here, not inst.i.tutional racism. Members of the left in America are often well intentioned, but they are just as often clueless. There will always be corrupt and racist cops because there will always be corrupt and racist people. But police officers on the street get up every day knowing that they might not come home at night. And for this they should be given the benefit of any doubt.

I know this much to be true: It is not easy being a minority in the United States. Not only are you outnumbered, but the crushing weight of irrational ignorance is, generally speaking, directed toward you far more than it is at the majority. Sometimes whites in the USA overlook racial bias entirely because it does not affect them.

I never got the antiblack thing. New York Giants center fielder Willie Mays was my guy even after the team moved to San Francisco. Cleveland Browns running back Jim Brown was actually from Long Island. I idolized these men. So when some adults threw the N-word around and mocked blacks, I had a hard time processing it. If all races were cheering blacks on the field-and they were-why would anyone deride that race after the game? The antiblack crew in the neighborhood could never answer that simple question.

(photo credit 3.1)

(photo credit 3.2)

I"m sometimes asked why I do so much reporting and a.n.a.lysis of minority issues, and my reply is brief: because few others do and all Americans deserve equal justice and a fair chance at the pursuit of happiness. The elite media are literally scared speechless of offending minorities in America and thus shy away from most confrontational reporting on situations that injure those who do not have the resources to fight effectively for themselves. For all of the politically correct rhetoric you hear or read in the press, little is actually being done to right wrongs on the tough side of town.

There is, of course, hope. Many local leaders in besieged neighborhoods are trying to improve things. But for real change to happen in chaotic neighborhoods, there must be rules, strict rules. There must be a code of conduct that is widely accepted in the inner cities, just as there is in the affluent suburbs. Here is a creed that might be a place to start:

Having a child out of wedlock would be considered a harmful thing, something to discourage.

Drug selling would be considered a violent crime, and those involved in this most harmful of enterprises would be shunned and reported to the authorities through the churches.

Drug addiction and alcoholism would be considered contagious diseases. Those afflicted would be encouraged to get help but not looked upon as victims.