Political re-alignment happens. Throughout American history, new coalitions of interests periodically take shape in an evolving society and economy. When these new arrangements form — often in unlikely configurations — it creates opportunities for new paradigms to emerge, which in turn shape large-scale policy efforts. It happened after the Great Depression in the 1930s, again in the 1960s with the civil rights movement, and, many argue, that it is happening again today. And when political re-alignment happens, it often leads to dramatic changes in the allocation of public resources.
As the American welfare state evolved during the course of the 20th century, it had formative periods that corresponded to relatively new political arrangements. Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal, Lyndon Johnson’s War on Poverty, Ronald Reagan’s retrenchment, and Bill Clinton’s welfare reform each revised how government provides assistance to those in need. It follows, then, that the next administration may have significant opportunities to pursue a re-thinking of welfare and re-set the expectations of what constitutes an effective welfare state. In order to move us toward a system capable of helping the poorest citizens of the world’s most prosperous country, it is time to ask what a new welfare reform policy should entail.
[For more of this story, written by Reid Cramer, go to https://psmag.com/improving-th...bbcdd16c0#.qq9ri57fz]
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