Recent reports reveal the harsh reality of hope and change.  According to CBS News, while the national average is a depressing 9.1%, black unemployment stands at a dismal 16.2%.  Worse still, black teens 16 to 19 face 41% unemployment.  CBS News, noting the historical disparity between black unemployment and the national average, adds that these are “Depression-era levels.” 

The fact that most black uplift is held hostage by a confluence of cultural cancers that are constantly overlooked is part of the problem.  But black America’s enduring conflict—a hesitancy to address deep historical contradictions—is the real culprit. 

ExposingLeftists.com arrived on the campus of the University of California, Merced, last May to gather signatures on a petition calling for a redistribution of grade-point averages.  Not surprisingly, few star students wanted to share the fruits of their academic labors.

But the logic was liberally sound.  Students who worked hard and studied longer than their peers—in the spirit of fairness—should be willing to sacrifice their higher GPAs to benefit those whose grades weren’t so high due to laziness or ineptitude (or both).

As the White House lobbies to raise the nation’s debt ceiling, why not instead raise its moral ceiling? After decades of rewarding bad behavior, it is in the government’s best interest—and perhaps even its duty—to promote the morals and values that made our nation great.

The Obama administration wants Congress to raise the debt ceiling so our government can borrow more than the almost $14.3 trillion currently allowed by law.  Conservatives want any debt increase tied to spending cuts, and a recent vote shows Obama lacks the political capital to ram through an increase as he might have in the past.

But an increase in borrowing authority is no solution to our nation’s woes.

How will a little bump curtail unfunded entitlement liabilities some estimate to cost more than $100 trillion?

Instead of raising the ceiling for more debt to support policies rewarding unwed motherhood, broken families and failing government-run schools, we must instead raise America's moral ceiling to promote the institution of marriage, hard work and quality education.

In the long run, reinvigorating these virtues could effectively cut spending by lessening the need for government entitlements now certain to bankrupt our government.

Conventional wisdom suggests a precipitous moral decline in America since the 1960s.  Consequently, no subgroup has been affected more than the black family.  The notion of family has changed.  Marriage no longer seems to hold the same appeal and divorce rates have skyrocketed.  Two-parent homes and academic performances suffer chronically, while crime and illegitimacy flourish.  But the liberal elite apparently considers all this a series of social non sequiturs.