There is no argument that a major precursor to poverty and bad education outcomes is the prevalence of single parent homes, the majority with no father. Nearly 50% of all of Louisiana’s kids come from single parent homes, and that percentage is much higher in New Orleans and for black kids.

The results are generational poverty and the leading cause of bad educational outcomes. Facts are sometimes inconvenient.

I suppose it is viewed by politicians as far safer to blame everything and everyone else for poverty, while not confronting reality. I suppose it is far safer to implement policies that actually encourage single parent families, instead of policies that encourage intact families which statistically have a better chance of breaking the cycle of poverty.

The election this fall for mayor of New Orleans offers a unique opportunity for political leaders to take a proactive stand against poverty. I do not mean the usual blame everyone else for it drivel, but by telling the people the hard truth that our society, through decades of misguided social policies, has actually guaranteed generational poverty and bad education results.

Though at the local level municipal government cannot substantially alter such policies, nothing can substitute for enlightened leadership. Perhaps one day New Orleans could be known as the city that took the first legitimate steps to end poverty by only a simple expression of profound political leadership.

Will they do it? Will the media, if it somehow can overcome its own prejudices, confront them about the statistical linkage of single parent families to poverty and bad education?

Or will we get the same old redistributionist rhetoric as the candidates attempt to outpace each other in spouting leftist bromides?

The former is the hoped-for result. The latter is what’s expected.

Courage is a rare commodity.