Uncle Sam's Plantation: How Big Government Enslaves America's Poor and What We Can Do About It (Hardcover)

by Star Parker (Author) "It was a hot and sticky 1968 summer evening in South Carolina..." (more)
Key Phrases: poverty group, Uncle Sam, Social Security, United States (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

America has two economic systems: capitalism for the rich and socialism for the poor. This double-minded approach seems to keep the poor enslaved to poverty while the rich get richer. Let's face it, despite its $400 billion price tag, welfare isn't working.

The solution, asserts Star Parker, is a faith-based, not state-sponsored, plan. In Uncle Sam's Plantation, she offers five simple yet profound steps that will allow the nation's poor to go from entitlement and slavery to empowerment and freedom. Parker shares her own amazing journey up from the lower rungs of the economic system and addresses the importance of extending the free market system to this neglected group of people. Emphasizing personal initiative, faith, and responsibility, she walks readers toward releasing the hold poverty has over their lives.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Thomas Nelson (November 20, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0785262199
• ISBN-13: 978-0785262190
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #81,248 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

117 of 125 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Star Continues to Shine the Light on Welfare, January 2, 2004

By A Customer

Star Parker's recent book "Uncle Sam's Plantation..." is
informative, inspiring, and written with the experience
of someone who has been there. As a former bleeding heart
liberal who was involved in a number of social services
organizations, it became obvious to me that many well intentioned
programs become a self perpetuating industry allowing 'do
gooders' to play Lady Bountiful to people they obviously
consider too incompetent to run their own lives.

The rewards go to those who exhibit self destructive behavior.
The more self destructive the behavior the more programs
exist as if throwing enough money and time will cure three
generations of government dependence. Ms Parker spells it
out clearly and effectively. I recommend this book to anyone
who feels that our welfare programs are going to create
independent, self supporting citizens. Your eyes will be
opened.

Lisa N

127 of 143 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Read from A Great American, Star Parker, December 30, 2003

By	D. A. Martin "Avid Reader" (Morocco) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

It is no surprise that government attempts at social engineering have proven costly, counter-productive, and oftentimes disastrous. Look no further than the 1960's War on Poverty programs of the LBJ administration, which instead of "winning" the war on poverty, only served to exacerbate the plight of the poor, creating three generations of dependence, laziness, irresponsibility and psychological nihilism - a cycle that has only started to be undone with the Welfare Reform Act of 1996.

But don't take my word for it. Just ask Star Parker, president and founder of the Coalition of Urban Renewal and Education (CURE) and self-proclaimed "former welfare queen." Picking up where she left off in her blisteringly honest memoir Pimps, Whores and Welfare Brats (Pocket Star, 1997), Parker takes big government to task in Uncle Sam's Plantation: How Big Government Enslaves America's Poor and What We Can Do About It (WND Books). If there is anyone who knows first hand the degradation and moral bankruptcy that comes with perennial dependence on "Uncle Sam," it's Ms. Parker - she lived it.

The author lays out her own categorical definitions of poverty and recounts the hard lessons she learned as a welfare mother. In discussing how liberals have hijacked history and used the poor as pawns for political purposes, Parker describes the typical government safety net as simply a way of covering up the social pathologies associated with the bad choices of the underprivileged.

Arguably the most harmful effects of massive government intervention have been the breakdown of the family unit. This is especially true in the black community, where according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services roughly 70% of black children are born out of wedlock. According to Parker, radical feminism has helped to produce this horrible state of affairs. The author shows in surgical detail how buying into the radical feminist party line (i.e. that men are "the enemy," marriage is "prostitution and slavery in a different form," and "money is power") has not only contributed to high rates of illegitimacy and abortion in the black community, but has also rendered many black women "unpaid whores and old maids."

The last third of Uncle Sam's Plantation outlines the author's proposed solutions on weaning the poor off of government dependence and liberal mind control. From analyzing the wastefulness of our current tax system and the counter-productive economic effects of minimum wage and rent control laws, to outlining how Social Security can (and should) be privatized to benefit all those who pay into it, the author displays erudition far beyond the average layperson and an iron-clad compassion born out of the experience of a woman who has indeed "been there, done that."

Star Parker's life is a shining example that individual freedom and self-reliance are indeed possible for those who desire and are willing to work for it. A person's income does not determine his/her outcome, and those desiring a better outcome for their lives should heed this extraordinary woman's words of redemption and deliverance. She is a true inspiration, and this book is a great read.

83 of 99 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Star Parker created a gem of a book, November 20, 2003

By	T. Washington (Baltimore, Maryland United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

As an African American I already knew about the liberals efforts of enslaving poor and especially minorities in america. Star Parker book is so thought provoken and honest, even a person of blind ignorannce and denial will have a hard time debating the overwhelming facts! I will say the book is hard edged in content and very truthful. WARNING:Some people might not be able to handle what is said in this book. The Truth.