As the whole country knows by now, Newt Gin-grich has many hang-ups. But the one I like the most is when he blames welfare and the Great Society for all the crime problems in Amer-ica. Newt faulted the welfare state when Susan Smith drowned her two sons in an automobile; he also blamed the heinous crime in Illinois - where an unborn baby was violently cut from his mother's womb - on a "welfare system which subsidized people for doing nothing."
When I read all the blame that Newt was laying on the poor I immediately thought of "Les Miserables" and how the welfare system in Paris had been responsible for the crime of that period. If you recall, Jean is finally released from prison after serving 19 years for stealing a loaf of bread for his starving sister.His archenemy is Inspector Newt Javert. When Valjean stays with a bishop, he steals his silver candlesticks, which is typical of the way welfare recipients thank their priests. But the bleeding-heart monsignor tells the police that he gave the candlesticks to Jean. Valjean is so grateful he repents his welfare ways and becomes rich and very comfortable.
But Inspector Newt Javert has not forgotten the loaf of bread that Jean stole and has vowed to pursue him no matter how long it takes.
Javert tells a police snitch, "People who steal a loaf of bread wind up stealing chocolate eclairs from the rich. My job is to see that the liberals, who are always asking for a free lunch from the taxpayer, pay for their crimes with bread and water."
When Valjean hears that Newt will move heaven and earth to arrest him, he says to those at the barricades, "Inspector Newt Javert belongs in the sewers."
Everyone fighting on the good side of the French Revolution agrees and bursts into song with an old political refrain, "When Newt Goes Into the Sewer, There Is No Light at the End of the Tunnel."
Unable to stop the welfare rot, Javert feels that he has failed and kills himself, never to see the social reform he so desperately sought.
When Valjean was informed of Javert's death, he said, "He never did get it right."