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What a mish most of ideas being thrown about here all to lead to the novel idea of government intervention being needed to end kids in poverty. Is the takeaway, identity is an intersection of many things (how enlightening) don't be trapped...and the problem is poverty? So let's think of ourselves, as black/white/brown/green, gay, hetero, right or left wing, and POOR (already the case). How many different ways are "intellectuals" going to slice the pie of being poor is a problem. I'm reminded of the 'defining deviancy down', and this guy among many others seem to perpetuate their 'sophisticated' ideas of doing just that (if I'm even understanding defining deviancy down properly). I think government and intellectual institutions have gotten the lay person that even bothers to try and follow this nonsense at this point, so twisted and confused with the amount of ideas and where they come from, that they're thought is paralyzed (at least that's where i stand). The thought that legislation and political policy is actually coming from half baked, overtly over-complicated "ideas" manufactured from think tanks is sickening. Not to mention if you were to hit the streets pretty much anywhere in the US, ask any person about their "identity" I'd wager many of them would just laugh at this point. Their family matters, their friends matter, whether they can feed themselves matters, afford transportation, maybe take a vacation...that's not identity, that's life. People that lift up their communities providing opportunity and care, mothers, fathers and families providing the best opportunities and lives they can give to their children if they want to grant them the best chance at a better situation is a tried and true path forward. Maybe being honest with children that their success is not a defined outcome, has nothing to do with identity, that their choices will influence the rest of their lives and there may be limits that they'll have to navigate, as that's how societies function, is just how it is. That would be true even with a legislative "solution" to poverty, and would deteriorate real personal agency and freedoms. Identity is whatever you want it to be, it's a trap if you think it is, it's not if you don't.

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