首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
The current political debate over family values personal responsibility, and welfare takes for granted the entrenched American b
The current political debate over family values personal responsibility, and welfare takes for granted the entrenched American b
admin
2013-01-15
54
问题
The current political debate over family values personal responsibility, and welfare takes for granted the entrenched American belief that dependence on government assistance is a recent and destructive phenomenon. Conservatives tend to blame this dependence on personal irresponsibility aggravated by a swollen welfare apparatus that saps individual initiative. Liberals are more likely to blame it on personal misfortune magnified by the harsh lot that falls to losers in our competitive market economy. But both sides believe that "winners" in America make it on their own that dependence reflects some kind of individual or family failure, and that the ideal family is the self-reliant unit of traditional lore--a family that takes care of its own, carves out a future for its children, and never asks for handouts. Politicians at both ends of the ideological spectrum have wrapped themselves in the mantle of these "family values" arguing over why the poor have not been able to make do without assistance, or whether aid has exacerbated their situation, but never questioning the assumption that American families traditionally achieve success by establishing their independence from the government.
The myth of family self-reliance is not compelling that our actual national and personal histories often buckle under its emotional weight. "We always stood on our own two feet", my grandfather used to say about his pioneer heritage, whenever he walked me to the top of the hill to survey the property in Washington State that his family had bought for next to nothing after it had been logged off in the early 1900s. Perhaps he didn’t know that the land came so cheap because much of it was part of a federal subsidy originally allotted to the railroad companies, which had received 183 million acres of the public domain in the nineteenth century. These federal giveaways were the original source of most major western logging companies’ land, and when some of these logging companies moved on to virgin stands of timber, federal lands trickled down to a few early settlers who were able to purchase them inexpensively.
Like my grandparents, few families in American history--whatever their "values" have been able to rely solely on their own resources. Instead, they have depended on the legislative, judicial and social support structures set up by governing authorities, whether those authorities were the clan elders of Native American societies, the church courts and city officials of colonial America, or the judicial and legislative bodies established by the Constitution.
At America’s inception, this was considered not a dirty little secret but the norm, one that confirmed our social and personal interdependence. The idea that the family should have the sole or even primary responsibility for educating and socializing its members, finding them suitable work, or keeping them from poverty and crime was not only ludicrous to colonial and revolutionary thinkers but dangerously parochial.
The word "parochial" in the last paragraph means ______.
选项
A、minble
B、absurd
C、insular
D、liberal
答案
C
解析
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/Mh2O777K
0
考博英语
相关试题推荐
Itisdifficulttoimaginewhatlifewouldbelikewithoutmemory.Themeaningsofthousandsofeverydayperceptions,thebases【
Forthepastseveralyears,theSundaynewspapersupplementParadehasfeaturedacolumncalled"AskMarilyn".Peopleareinvite
Americanliteraryhistoriansareperhaps______toviewingtheirownnationalscenetoonarrowly,mistakingprominenceforuniqu
Thebusinesswasforcedtoclosedownforaperiodbutwas______revived.
Scientistsare______certainthatthereisacancer--inhibitingagentinthebloodoftheshark.
Youcan______differentkindsofpeople,dictionariesorencyclopediatofindoutwhatyouwishtoknow.
TheNationalTrustinBritain,togetherwithsimilarvoluntaryorganization,playsanincreasinglyimportantpartinthepreserv
Ourshasbecomeasocietyofemployees.AhundredyearsorsoagoonlyoneoutofeveryfiveAmericansatworkwasemployed,i.
Sheboughtaknifefromtheshop______topeelanapple.
______inflation,drivenbyrisingfoodandoilcosts,isstrikinghardestattheworld’spoorest,whoareforcedtospend60to
随机试题
库存有利的方面主要是()。
在其他条件不变的情况下,管理幅度与层次的关系是【】
国家监督,也称国家机关的监督,依国家机关的性质的不同,又分为________。
患者男性,35岁,阵发性剧烈腹痛,停止排便排气,呕吐频繁来院就诊,查体:腹部可见肠型蠕动波,诊断为肠梗阻。护理措施中不正确的是
A房地产开发公司于2007年12月31日以挂牌方式取得了位于某市二环路附近的一宗住宅用途的国有建设用地使用权,全额支付了出让金及相关税费,并于2008年1月31日办理了土地登记手续,领取了国有土地使用证。因后续资金问题,A公司拟与B公司合资成立C公司,其中
【2012年真题】某公司发行票面总额为300万元的优先股股票,筹资费费率为5%,年股息率为15%,公司所得税税率为25%,则其资金成本率为()。
4,11,30,67,()
下列选项能够体现事物是普遍联系的有()。①凡事预则立,不预则废②彗星、地震预示国家衰败③乌鸦叫丧,喜鹊叫喜④唇亡齿寒
=_________.
(2008下项管)团队成员第一次违反了团队的基本规章制度,项目经理对他应该采取______形式的沟通方法。
最新回复
(
0
)