AVERY TOOLEY COMMENTARY: Wha'chu Gon' DO Now

Ave argues that conservatives must rethink their approach to poverty issues and poor people, as it's too abstract. "Of course people are in the positions they are because of the choices they made.  Until they realize that, they will never have any agency in their own lives.  But we have to do more than that....It's all cool to be analytical and make an argument explaining why the idea of a minimum wage or a 'living wage' is actually more detrimental than helpful, but I still don't know what that does for people who work hard all week and still can't get by."

Ave argues that doing the groundwork is conservatives' best opportunity to make a real difference, as 'progressives' don't want to do the dirty work but use other folks' money to legislate it away. "The conservative ideology is focused on operating at the individual level, but where are we when things are going down?  We should be the main ones helping as literacy volunteers and tutors and building houses and soforth [sic].  It's a piece of cake for me to sit off to the side and say what's not working.  Yeah, I can tell you that some public school's self-esteem program is a waste of time if the kid knows he can't multiply.  If I'm not in there helping him to accomplish things so he will have a foundation on which to build his self-esteem, then what am I doing?"