Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Poppinjay
Urban areas across the country have been flourishing in the past twenty years, while rural America hasn’t really found its way out.
I do agree that there are certainly problems with subsidized living arrangements, and it could be said that capital and capitalism is what is driving the renaissance of urban America, but the infra-structure to allow that was built largely on Johnson’s inner-city initiatives.
|
Let's remember that the War on Poverty started
40 years ago, not 20, and that the recent regentrification of some of the major cities is more like a product of the suburbs overflowing back into the cities than a hangover effect from the WOP. The people who are gentrifying cities like Chicago, DC, Boston, etc. are rarely native to city that they live. They are products of the surrounding suburbs or areas farther out. I can tell you that of my friends in Chicago, 80% are either suburbanites or from outside the area altogether.
I don't think that you can necessarily blame Johnson's plan for the subsidized living arrangements, espeically here in Chicago. Most of the housing projects here were on the books in the 40's and 50's and were funded by WOP money in many cases.
Getting back to the current "wars", I completely agree that both of them are unwinnable at best and quagmires at worst. Both of them are important causes, but labeling them specifically as "wars" isn't necessarily the most productive way of addressing them. However, we live in a soundbite era and to expect anything else is probably unrealistic.