Word: gingriched
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...prissy about absolute fairness, to expect that Newt and his cohort would not reward followers and punish foes. On the other hand, by not demanding some sacrifice from his own supporters, Gingrich and his movement risk being seen as just another engine of interest-group politics, albeit a different set of interest groups. Bill Bennett, the former Education Secretary and maven of the Republican moralists, worries about this. "What's come across quite clearly is that we Republicans are smart and serious and that we are going to shrink the government. What hasn't come across...
What will become of the poor in Gingrich's brave new world? It is the welfare programs themselves that he sees as the problem. Conservative welfare expert Douglas Besharov describes the current system as "a culture of entitlement that has undermined traditional values of education, work and marriage." Gingrich, in his interview with TIME, put it more starkly: "What kind of safety net is it that destroys you? You have a man-eating safety net and a child-eating safety...
...sending out--or devolving--welfare programs to the states, Gingrich raises the prospect of more experimentation and innovation with a system that has not proved its value to date. But by capping the amount of money Washington is willing to send to the states and by putting limits on the number of years a welfare recipient can draw payments, the G.O.P. is testing the theory that if the poor know they are not automatically getting payments, they will lift themselves out of poverty. Democrats warn that, with caps and limits, the poor will be devastated. Counters Besharov...
...Gingrich, however, believes the spirit of private charity will help the neediest cases when the government reduces welfare spending. He buttresses this tenet by borrowing heavily from the work of Marvin Olasky, a professor of journalism at the University of Texas and the editor of a Christian weekly newsmagazine. Olasky's thesis is that giving aid indiscriminately to poor people actually destroys those people, all the while turning taxpayers against the welfare programs. He advocates replacing welfare with private care giving, so that only the "deserving" poor are helped. A giant welfare state can't make the distinction, Gingrich argues...
...House has neither done much nor said much to challenge his rich core constituency to shoulder more of the burden in curing poverty. His friend and sometime guru Arianna Huffington regularly urges her Republican friends to tithe 10% of their income to the poor. She has urged Gingrich to join her, but he has not. Nor has he explained why, even as the top marginal tax rate has fallen for the past 14 years, the taxpayers who have benefited the most--those who earn $125,000 or more a year--still give only 3.3% to charity, including cultural institutions like...