We have generations of people who were born into poverty, with sub-standard education and infrastructure. Without proper representation in government. It's a cycle that repeats itself. We're all animals at the end of the day who will do whatever is necessary to survive and protect our family. When the allure of making 10 times the amount of money you can anywhere else by selling drugs (without proper education, which costs money, and requires a stable home life with proper support to get that education), then it's really no surprise when people roll the dice and take that risk.
This isn't even getting into the whole prison industrial complex we have in this country (
http://hiphopandpolitics.com/2013/04/24/jailhouse-roc-the-facts-about-hip-hop-and-prison-for-profit/). Even before for-profit prisons were a big thing (corporations rule and control American culture and politics if you were not aware), we had a prison industrial complex. There are so many jobs and companies that make money from the complex. We imprison people for minor drug use, sometimes for life (3 strikes laws in some states which can throw people in prison for life for marijuana possession).
There's so many different factors that contribute to people in poverty resorting to desperate measures to survive (or what they perceive as their only way to survive). Most of the people on government assistance are white by the way, and a disproportionate amount of black and latino's are in prison compared to the population (even though they don't commit more crimes proportionally).
And then you have retards spouting out about welfare. Well by far most of our welfare goes to corporations (both directly in subsidies, but also indirectly in tax breaks and tax loopholes, and things like NAFTA/CAFTA which allow them to bypass tariffs and further increase their profits at the direct expense of our citizens). We also give billions away every year to countries like Pakistan and Israel who literally have terrorists and war mongering extremists in their government and law enforcement agencies. Money that could be better spent on our own citizens. I certainly don't like my tax money going towards corporations or other countries. States literally subsidize 100's of millions of dollars for sports stadiums. We literally pay for buildings of some of the most profitable companies in the country. There's no reason they can't pay for their own places of work. And then we spend a ridiculous amount of money on our military (but still have problems providing proper protection [say that 3 times fast] to our ground troops personal equipment, and transports).
We have so many problems in this country, and to blame them on the lowest common denominators who have no ability to shape or control the larger effects on them (aka government) is ridiculous. The main problem in this country is our government, and the corporations that run it.
As Ben Franklin said "When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic." He's easily my favorite person (along with George Carlin) to pull quotes from. The guy just understood human nature. My 2nd favorite quote (which is very appropriate for current times in America over the past 15 years, but off topic here) is: "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither safety nor liberty."
