I went grudgingly to the movie "Precious" -- a heavy and thought-provoking film. To be frank, I slant towards comedies. I was unprepared for the depth of pain I would feel. I grew up in the inner city and am aware of the negatives. But to have them put in my face was so exceedingly painful so as to force this letter. "Precious" is a story that begins and ends in the hands of government. It depicts a clear cut indictment of the welfare state and public options.

I would like to share some pertinent facts, based on my knowledge of biology.

1) No one is predisposed to be evil. There is no evil gene in the DNA code.

2) Evil is derived from our DNA's expression in the environment.

Environment can make any one of us good or evil. A destructive environment will produce more destructive results than will a productive environment.

3) Our competence is genetic, but it is no hedge against the environment's ability to direct us; competence can make us different degrees of evil, from average evil (Precious' parents) to supremely evil (Hitler, Castro). Competence can also allow us to leave a bad environment.

4) Success in life depends more on where you are born geographically than does your genetic predisposition to competence. Bridgeport's East Side vs Westport? Westport wins.

If these premises are true, then the only solution to mitigate the negative effects of poverty is to change the environment where developing children grow. We must stop giving things, and start empowering people to get things for themselves.

Government has no skill set to handle the management of human nature.

Long ago, before government programs, poor people did not stay poor permanently as they have now for decades. Being poor was a transitional state of being. Before government programs, this country welcomed millions of poor. The Italians, the Irish, the Jews and today the Mexicans are all examples of groups that came, worked and eventually prospered. If Mexicans begin to take welfare, they too will stall. The movie proves there is no clearer explanation as to why blacks languish on the bottom rung than the opiate reality of government programs.

I stir at the thought that others might misdirect their full animus towards the evil parents in the movie and thus miss a unique opportunity to engage the actual target of shame -- government. This movie shows what happens to people who accept the bait of public anything: free cheese, free housing, free money. If you follow these folks from their innocent beginning of accepting something for free to their real endpoint of absolute dependence and fundamental misery, you would agree that the word "free" in their world should be reclassified as another vulgar four-letter word.

Humans are unique and require unique answers. Government generates one-size-fits-all answers. However, the affected people themselves and their families know their strengths and weaknesses best; they know how they are likely to achieve and fail. They have built-in survival tools which have been suppressed.

Let us liberate the poor to solve their own problems, to rediscover their survival skills. For the sake of the poor we must eliminate programs that make people weak. We must reconsider how we educate our urban population of poor. We must gradually convert welfare programs into real jobs and public housing into private housing. To dismantle welfare, we can subsidize private companies willing to provide transitional employment. This would help both to stimulate small companies and to educate new workers.

Everyone that can work must work. No excuses. This handout will now be called a salary!

Another reality exposed in the movie is that people dependent on government are illiterate. We must demand that for any kind of assistance you receive, you make measurable improvements to your academic skill set. If you do not improve, you will receive less. We can call this continuing education.

I hope you agree that giving handouts has not worked. Sixty years of data prove this point. Instead of failed ideas, let us trust that the poor can learn, work and improve their lives just like past generations.