LAST FRIDAY night, the Jefferson Society hostedHousing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson, who spoke about President Bush's innovative concept of an "ownership society." While Prof. and NAACP Chairman Julian Bond may label Bush a racist, Jackson's outline of Bush's programs to assist all Americans, especially minorities, demonstrates that he is anything but. The knowledge that Jackson imparted to the audience, however, has not reached the vast majority of the American public. In order to embark on a sweeping reform of major institutions, the Bush administration should continue, and perhaps even increase, its drive to educate citizens about the principles of an ownership society.
Bush's vision of an ownership society might at first blush seem idealistic. Conservatives favor the general concept of a society in which individuals control more than the government does. This broad notion also generally resonates well with the public; after all, it harkens back to the founding doctrine of democracy. Actually applying this ownership model, however, is more challenging than analyzing it in theoretical realm. President Bush introduced his idea of an ownership society in the 2004 campaign. However, it was not one of his campaign's primary messages, and it often got lost in the shuffle of major foreign policy issues.
Jackson enlightened many of us, including myself, of how this philosophy of an "ownership society" is being actively put into practice on many levels, producing tangible and remarkable results. According to Jackson, since 2002, 2.2 million minority families have purchased a home for the first time. Critics scoffed at Bush's goal of 5.5 million new minority homeowners by 2010 as naïve -- an expectation that will be surpassed based on current projections. Measures to encourage home ownership, such as tax credits and lower down payment initiatives, were implemented under Bush's tenure to close the home ownership gap between whites and minorities. Instead of a government handout for public housing, these measures represent an enterprise designed to help people have a stake in the ownership society.
Jackson affirmed, "We all live the American dream," because we as a nation are afforded the opportunity to "move up" the so-called ladder, while in many other parts of the world the socioeconomic system is much more rigid. We have the ability to experience the "pursuit of ownership," as Jackson put it, in a country that values property rights.
While owning a home might not seem like a solution to dealing with many of society's ills, Jackson noted some of homeownership's direct and compelling correlations. For instance, children in homes (as opposed to public housing) were 25 percent more likely to attend college, and 116 percent more likely to graduate; crime and unemployment decreases in areas with increasing home ownership and $118 billion was pumped into the economy by the housing industry.
Home ownership is just one of the components of Bush's overall plan. Other initiatives include reforming the Social Security system, cutting taxes for small businesses and individuals, overhauling the tax code and encouraging market-driven competition in health care.While these proposals are extremely large in scope, they all have the same fundamental core value of advancing a society in which Americans have ownership of their own destiny -- in essence, helping people help themselves.
Various political and social groups constantly speak of the need for empowerment -- feminists, minorities, the poor, etc. What they do not realize is that true empowerment begins on the individual level -- people must recognize their potential and not possess the mentality of a victim in order to overcome adversity. Jackson shared his personal story of repeated discrimination as an African-American growing up in Texas under segregation. Despite this, he learned from his parents that "the only limitation to your accomplishments is in your mind," and that racism can be viewed as either a "wall too high" or a "hurdle you must jump."
Aside from living in a prejudiced world, Jackson did not come from a wealthy background. But his mother told him "poor is a state of mind, not a condition." With this mindset, Jackson went on to college, graduate school and law school. He held several executive positions at housing authorities in major cities, as well as a multi-billion dollar utility company, American ElectricPower Texas.
Twenty-first century America still contains pockets of racism, although certainly not to the egregious extent that Jackson faced in his childhood. Yet, Jackson senses a "defeatist" attitude among today's youth. This is not to say that everyone, no matter what situation they are in, should be able to become a multi-millionaire just because Jackson did, but we can all take a lesson from Jackson's amazing biography. We should embrace, and not take for granted, all the wonderful opportunities that we are presented with -- as Americans, as university students and for the sake of future generations. Then we will truly be a society of individual ownership and personal success.
Whitney Blake is a Cavalier Daily associate editor. She can be reached at wblake@cavalierdaily.com.
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