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Principled Ideas from the Centennial Institute
Volume 9, Number 4 April 2017
FIGHTING FOR THOSE
MOST VULNERABLE
A conservative, Christian approach to helping the poor
Star Parker, founder and president of the Center for
Urban Renewal and Education
American taxpayers declared war on poverty in 1965. Since
then, over the last 50 years, we have invested $22 trillion in
this war. Thats $900 billion a year at the Federal level. And
yet, interestingly, less than 20 cents on the dollar actually
reaches the households that we say were
trying to serve.
The results of our war on poverty are far Results Of
from what I think people wanted. Weve On Poverty Not
drained our most hard-hit communities
of all their economic resources and
What We Wanted
human capital, weve stolen dignity from
those who are most in need, weve exhausted and frustrated I dont normally go to the libraries of democrats, but I
our great middle class, and weve expanded the size and had an opportunity to visit the library of Harry Truman.
scope of government to the point that were sending our I am convinced that if he were alive today, he would be
entire society into economic chaos and moral collapse.
I founded the Center for Urban Renewal and Education
or CURE to do something about that. I founded CURE
on behalf of the people who really care about our most
vulnerable and our nations at-risk.
At CURE, we address poverty from a Christian,
conservative perspective. We represent hundreds of black
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Publisher, Dr. Donald W. Sweeting
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Editor, Jeff Hunt
pastors from across the country with policy thoughts and
with a national voice.
There are 60 million dead to abortion in this country.
That should give us great pause. After years of men like
Gosnell inside abortion clinics, stories about how Planned
Parenthood brutalizes those in the womb, and videos of
Planned Parenthood selling body parts, I thought that we
needed people in Washington.
Were now in Washington, D.C. because I concluded, like
many Americans, that we need people there who believe in
our traditions, who believe in the founding principles of
our great nation. Biblical truths and eternal truths. Choice
loses its meaning if it doesnt matter what we choose.
We need people in Washington to fight for the proper role
of government. The role of government is to protect our
interests, not to plunder us and pursue us. We need people
in D.C. who believe in limited government and private
property and free markets and capitalism. As Steve Forbes
said in his latest book on capitalism, profit is good; it
gives us the engine for tomorrow to create the jobs that
everybody says they want.
And yet, capitalism and free markets are under attack.
Were at a critical cross point, similar to the 1850s, where
Abraham Lincoln had to look into Scripture and say, A
house divided against itself cant stand. He realized the
country could not go on like this anymore; half slave and
half freea decision had to be made.
The War America could be one or the other but no
longer both.
We need people in Washington who
believe in E Pluribus Unum, out of
many, one.
Star Parker is the founder and president of the Center for Urban Renewal and
Education, a public policy think tank that promotes market-based solutions to
fight poverty. She consults with both federal and state legislators on market-
based strategies to fight poverty.
Centennial Institute sponsors research, events, and publications to enhance
public understanding of the most important issues facing our state and nation.
By proclaiming Truth, we aim to foster faith, family, and freedom,
teach citizenship, and renew the spirit of 1776.
 a Republican, so I went to visit his library. He had a rug in and out of the abortion clinic. I knew what the inside of
from the White House that reads, E Pluribus Unum, out an abortion clinic looked like way before the country was
of many, one. Thats what our nation was supposed to be shown into Kermit Gosnells clinic in Philadelphia.
about, but after years now of diversity and multiculturalism Eventually, while I hadnt yet changed my sexual patterns,
fueled through these cesspools we call schools, we have I made a decision deep down inside that I wasnt going to
moved away from what made this country good. Our
continue using abortion as my birth control. Of course, I
public schools train our young people to be divided, but
found myself pregnant again, still not married, and spiraling
what we need is the idea of many becoming one, E Pluribus
my life into a little dark hole of welfare dependency. And
Unum. That is the heart of American Exceptionalism.
thats where God found me. Trust me when I tell you, God
As I talk to the students at schools and on campuses across can still touch somebodys life and change them.
this country, and go into our hard-hit communities with
I want to encourage you with my testimony, because we
our pastors, I tell you America is exceptional because it is
serve a big God, a God that was able to reach into that little
the exception to the rule. Before the founding of this great
dark hole that I had carved for myself, and pick me up out
country, there was nowhere in the world where you could
be born in one set of circumstances of there and put me on a different course. He put me on a
and die in another. There was no course to finally being born again
place in the world where if you E Pluribus Unum, and I didnt even know I was so lost!
were born poor you didnt die poor. The Heart Of American In fact, the reason I stumbled onto
What America did was offer people the things of God was because I
the opportunity to grab ahold of Exceptionalism was looking to subsidize my little
their future destinies. In America, welfare check. The Lefts rules are
it doesnt matter your backgroundanyone, from any dont work, dont save, dont get married, and well keep
ethnicity, can be born again. People like me, who break you enslaved to a poverty plantation. That meant I needed
their lives can move into a new life, start again and realize to find something that would pay me under the table.
great dreams.
I happened into a business in south central Los Angeles
That is why I do what I dofor the nation and for those were the owners of that business told me they didnt pay
in our most vulnerable communities. I know far too well under the table, that they were legitimate businessmen.
the lies of the Left. I lived the life they support, so Im an Now, they happened to be good looking brothers, and I
appropriate spokesperson for our conservative ideals when wanted to work there so I could play all day and party
it comes to protecting ourselves against the onslaught of all night. I confronted them about being legitimate. Why
left-wing liberalism. Over the decades, they have expanded would they mainstream their lives? Didnt they know this
the size and scope of government until we are now over countrys racistdidnt they know Jesse Jackson?
$19 trillion in debt. They have lied and left millions of
good people wanting. They werent hearing it though. They had already dedicated
themselves to the things of the Scriptures and so they
I believed their liesthat the poor are poor because the confronted me back. They told me I couldnt work there
wealthy are wealthy, that my problems were somebody because of my lifestyle. My lifestyle? Id grown up in a
elses faultand I was lost. culture that says you can do anything you want to, there
I got caught very young in criminal activity, drug activity, are no absolute rules. All references to God have been
and sexual activity. Just to show you a little bit of the path removed from the public square, the feminist movement
I was on, one of my books is called, Pimps, Whores and has destroyed marriage, and we have a war on poverty
Welfare Brats. I had bought into all of the Lefts lies and that pays people with other peoples money, the stealing
ended up in very aggressive living patterns that landed me of private property.

CENTENNIAL REVIEW is published monthly by the Centennial Institute at Colorado Christian University. The authors views are not necessarily
those of CCU. Designer, Justin Jones. Illustrator, Benjamin Hummel. Subscriptions free upon request. Write to: Centennial Institute, 8787 W.
Alameda Ave., Lakewood, CO 80226. Call 800.44.FAITH. Or visit us online at centennial.ccu.edu.

Please join the Centennial Institute today. As a Centennial donor, you can help us restore Americas moral core and prepare
tomorrows leaders. Your gift is tax-deductible. Please use the envelope provided. Thank you for your support.
- Jeff Hunt, Director

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Centennial Review April 2017 2

My lifestyle? I said unacceptable to who? And they said,
Unacceptable to God.
Unacceptable to God. Something resonated and I got
chills. I didnt grow up knowing God, but for some reason
I started thinking that I should care about Him and that he
cared about me. Those brothers would call me and invite
me to go to church with them. Had I known a lawyer from
the ACLU I would have sued them for religious harassment,
but I didnt know any lawyers back then. Finally, I went to
church with them and I heard the gospel. I heard that God
was in Christ, that he was reconciling the world to himself,
that he was not counting my sin against me, but that he
loved me, that he died for me, that he would set me free
free from even myself, and I wanted that.
It didnt take long before God started addressing other
patterns in my life, including welfare. One day, the
preacher looked out at the congregation, pointed his finger
and said, What are you doing living on welfare? And
Im thinking, How does he know Im on welfare? I had
cleaned myself up a bit. I was still on welfare, but I was
going to church, and I didnt think anyone knew I was
check, and trapped in government housing, government
still struggling. Then he said, The government is not your
schools, government-run everything.
source, God is! And you have a decision to make today: its
God or government. Ironically, it was a little bitty white guy who offered me
He opened the Bible to Philippians 4:19 and read, My my first job. He hired me to answer phones in his fuel
God will supply your need according to His riches and distribution company there in Los Angeles. It was there
glory by Christ Jesus. And Im thinking, his God, Creator that I learned God is in the talent-distribution business
of heaven and earth, is going to supply my need? I thought because that little white dude walked by my desk one day
God is under attack because we have removed his symbols and said, You sure talk a lot, have you ever considered
everywhere we turn. sales and marketing?

But there are some symbols you cant
remove, and His beauty cannot be
denied, the heavens, the work of His
Is Your
fingers, the moon and the stars that Acceptable To God?
Hes ordained. Compare that with
$430 a month, a couple hundred
dollars of food stamps and a medical card. Well, its not
rocket science. I wrote my case workers and said take my
name off, Im trusting God. She called me to curse me
out and to tell me that I would be back one day. But I had
resolved that I wasnt going back, that I was going to trust
the Lord.
I earned a degree in marketing, and
I went into business for myself. And
Lifestyle after that business was destroyed in
the 1992 Los Angeles riots, God
moved me again, and I knew I
needed to be in the social reform
movement. I wanted to be involved in guiding policies
that impact the poor, and God graced me that year with
the GOP Congress that signed the Contract with America
to work on welfare reform that beautiful contract to
move our country back toward freedom and personal
responsibility.

I wish I could tell you that He put a money tree in my yard,
but it wasnt that simple. I had to do what everybody has to
do when they burn all the bridges in their lives: I had to go
out and get a job. I could hear in the back of my mind that
negative message from the Left, that white people dont
hire black people unless the government makes them. Id
heard that all my life from people who claimed to represent
my interests in Washington, Left-wing liberals who are in
the business of keeping people poor, enslaved to the welfare
Seems like a long time ago since we did thatin fact, it
has been a while, that was in 1996and look where we
are today: left wanting, left at a critical cross point where
we have a huge decision to make. Much has broken down
as a result of the social engineering that has gone on in our
country for the last 50 years, thats been on steroids for the
last eight.
We have a really wonderful opportunity though. Were in
a dangerous place but we have a window of opportunity
Centennial Review April 2017 3
 Centennial Institute
STAR PARKER WAS A Colorado Christian University
KEYNOTE SPEAKER AT 8787 W. Alameda Ave.
THE 2016 WESTERN Lakewood, CO 80226
CONSERVATIVE
SUMMIT. Return Service Requested

As founder and president of

the Center for Urban Renewal
and Education, Star Parker is a
national conservative leader.
Before involvement in social
activism, Star had seven years
in the grip of welfare dependency. After breaking free,
she consulted on federal welfare reform in the mid-90s,
founding UrbanCure to bring new ideas on how to
transition Americas poor from government dependency.
Star has a bachelors from Woodbury University and has
received numerous awards and commendations for her
work on public policy issues.
Star is the author of Pimps, Whores & Welfare Brats,
Uncle Sams Plantation, and White Ghetto: How Middle
Class America Reflects Inner City Decay. She has spoken
on more than 190 colleges and universities about anti-
poverty initiatives, has authored several books, and is a
nationally syndicated columnist with Creators Syndicate.

to make some significant changes. Im glad to be a part of It comes down to this. Were either going to be biblical
that. Im excited about programs like Speaker Paul Ryans and free or were going to be secular and statist, we can no
block grant program. These block grants will longer be both.
help states be incubators for real change,
where we can try new ideas that help people
Choose To We can do some major things for those that
help themselves. We need these programs that Be Biblical are coming up behind us. Im looking forward
help people understand the values that made to this opportunity coming over the next few
this country strong. These are the values that And Free years, to get to the place which Ronald Reagan
keep us strong as individual peopleeternal declared that the answer to poverty is freedom
truths including limited government, free markets, and an and personal responsibility, not a welfare state. God bless
understanding of who we are as people, as human beings. you, thank you. n

Centennial Review April 2017 4