October 12, 2010
Book Review: Uncle Sam's Plantation by Star Parker
The provocative title is what caused me to choose this book as my next BookSneeze review. I figured that with such an over-the-top tagline, the content must be bold and hard-hitting.
I was not disappointed.
When author Star Parker refers to the "plantation" she is talking about the destructive addiction of many (and she focuses in on her own African-American community) to government assistance. And Parker knows what she is talking about. For years her life was on a downward spiral of welfare, drug abuse, and sexual promiscuity that led to multiple abortions. According to her account, she had a wake-up call while listening to a message at church, and God helped her turn her life around. Since then she has been a business owner, a talk-show host, and is currently running for Congress.
Parker pulls no punches in this book. She accuses the liberals of "hijacking history". She divides the poor into three groups, one of which she names "the lazy poor". She lists the categories of the welfare system (EANF, Food Stamps, etc) and describes in great detail how they form a vicious cycle that dooms the poor to be even more dependent on Uncle Sam, and less motivated to become productive members of society. Her descriptions are at times graphic, and her logic is unassailable.
In this reviewer's opinion--based on experience working in sectors where living on welfare is the norm--every thinking American needs to read this book. Taking the principles Parker outlines very seriously is the only way we can start toward a solution.
The only problem I had with this particular book is that it is and updated version--and this creates a little confusion. It is obvious that parts of it were written during the Bush administration, and others after Obama had been inaugurated.
Having said that, what Star Parker says is just as relevant now as it was then. The question is, is anybody listening?
Incredibly annoying legal jargon: I received this book from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze program, with the understanding that I would publish a review of it. I am under no obligation to write a positive review.
Posted by Andrew on October 12, 2010 12:32 AM.
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