The two most devastating paragraphs for progressives in David Horowitz's new book

In David Horowitz's new book "Take No Prisoners: The Battle Plan for Defeating the Left," one of his fundamental arguments is that for conservatives to beat Democrats, they need to "fight fire with fire," winning political battles by appealing not just to the head but to the heart, which will pave the way for policy victories.

One of Horowitz's key arguments in this regard is that the left is not the champion of the underdogs in society as it claims to be, but rather the force that keeps its own constituencies down, in the process creating millions of victims.

(Image Source: WNYC)

In a chapter entitled "Destructive Social Justice," Horowitz writes:

"The sins of government are not merely sins of omission; they are also sins of commission. Government programs are not only inadequately conceived and poorly managed--most people will concede as much--but they have destructive consequences for the very people they are designed to help. In other words, government programs have victims too, and the victims are not merely taxpayers."

Horowitz then takes four examples "of how government in the hands of progressive politicians has blighted the lives of society's most vulnerable populations," including that progressives:

• Sold homes to the poor they couldn't afford and took billions in wealth from black and Hispanic homeowners in the process
• Created a black underclass and condemned millions to permanent poverty
• Have taken away the most important run of the economic ladder for minorities and the poor
• Implemented affirmative action race preferences that damaged the lives of African Americans

Horowitz summarizes his argument in the following devastating passage:

[instory-book ISBN="9781621572565"]

The government campaigns that changed the rules so that the poor -- and especially the minority poor -- could buy homes they couldn't afford led to the greatest collapse of home values since the Great Depression. It caused untold trauma to poor families who lost their homes through foreclosure and wiped out half the net worth of middle class African Americans, who had worked hard to rise out of the poverty of their parents' generation. Massive government welfare programs destroyed inner-city black families and created a black underclass permanently dependent on government handouts, beset by out-of-control crimes rates and rampant substance abuse, and deprived of any real prospect of rising out of poverty as previous generations had done. Government monopolies in public education, run as lifetime jobs programs for adults with no rewards for success or punishments for failure, destroyed a school system that had once been the ladder to success for America's immigrant poor. Racial preference programs disguised as affirmative action reintroduced racial categories into America's public life, produced unnecessary failure rates among minority students, and spread incompetence through civic institutions. Progressive remedies have condemned millions of poor black and Hispanic children to lives of poverty and hopelessness and damaged the lives of countless others.

[sharequote align="center"]Progressive remedies have condemned millions of poor black and Hispanic children to lives of poverty[/sharequote]

The progressive axiom that it takes a government to raise a child has been shown in practice to be a perverse untruth. Government can destroy a child. It can destroy entire communities. Given enough latitude and time, and enough power to work with, it can destroy a nation.

You can read more about Horowitz's new book here, and look for a Blaze Books interview with Horowitz tomorrow.

Note: The links to the book in this post will give you an option to elect to donate a percentage of the proceeds from the sale to a charity of your choice. Mercury One, the charity founded by TheBlaze’s Glenn Beck, is one of the options. Donations to Mercury One go towards efforts such as disaster relief, support for education, support for Israel and support for veterans and our military. You can read more about Amazon Smile and Mercury One here.

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