Welfare War Essay, Research Paper
The United States of America & # 8230 ; the land of the free and the place of the
tax-stricken. The state that is known as? the last world power in the
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universe? that developed the deadliest arm on Earth, sent the first individual to
the Moon, and was the place of birth of the most powerful adult male in the universe, Bill
Gates, has forty million people ( which include ten million kids ) without
basic health care coverage. ( Packet, pg.58 ) Although this? supernation?
self-praises of the? American dream, ? where the hapless become rich nightlong, the
typical American citizen does non hold a? super? life style. Based on the
mean income of Americans, ? one in every five U.S. nonelderly families are
hapless, one in four immature families are hapless, and over half of all families
headed be a solitary parent are poor. ? ( Packet, pg.1 ) Though the United States has
tried to mime the public assistance systems of that of Europe, the bureaucratic? ruddy
tape? and the struggles that reside between the legislative assembly and executive
subdivisions of the authorities have hindered the advancement towards an effectual
public assistance reform policy. In order to understand the patterned advances towards polishing
the wounded public assistance system of the United States, one must foremost cognize what
public assistance means. The public assistance province is? a province which takes the premier function in
guaranting the proviso of a minimal criterion of life for citizens. ?
( Professor VonDoepp ) The two ends of the public assistance province is that of 1. security
against socio-economic want ( particularly with the current Capitalistic
system which households base their full life style on the result of the economic system )
Broye 2 2. equality against the still present racial tenseness and economical
barriers that reside in society. Many critics of public assistance plans across the
universe have argued whether the U.S. is truly a public assistance province because of the
limited function played by the authorities to keep a minimal criterion of life.
In Europe? s instance, merely the opposite can be said for their public assistance plans.
European provinces such as Germany, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom
? supply higher minimal criterions of income support than are available in the
U.S. ? ( Packet, pg.1 ) Merely seven per centum of families in Western Europe have
incomes that are below the national median, compared to the United States where
the poorness percentile is dual. The lone positive facet that the U.S. has to
show for their attempts in the current public assistance system is the proviso of free
public instruction, which is higher than in Europe. ( Packet, pg.16 ) In the U.S.
the public assistance system before the 1996 bipartizan alteration, had far more agape
holes in the? societal safety cyberspace? than that of the European provinces. Many
sceptics believe that the 1996 Welfare Reform Bill will do even more injury to
the citizens of the U.S. Peter Edelmaun, the former helper secretary for
planning and rating at the Department of Health and Human Services, resigned
after holding worked over 30 old ages after he read the reformation that was to take
topographic point from the Welfare Reform Bill. ? The measure will travel 20 million people,
including 1.1 million kids, into poorness, and coercing 11 million households
( 10 per centum of all American household families ) under the poorness line which was
last estimated at $ 13,793 for a household of three. ( Atlantic Monthly & A ; Packet,
pg. 46 ) While many European provinces including Sweden, Germany, the United
Kingdom, France, and the Netherlands provide health care Broye 3 centres,
suited lodging, health/recreational watering place, and regulate pay derived functions and
offering generous societal aid to the jobless, the United States late
passed a measure to contract the eligibility for handicapped kids which will ensue
in the remotion of 100,000 to 200,000 of the kids who presently receive SSI.
Senator Edward Kennedy, who voted against the measure, described it best by stating
it was? legislative kid abuse. ? ( Atlantic Monthly ) Even though the universe
sees that the United States needs to broaden their? safety cyberspace? for its
citizens, political discord continues to shorten public assistance? s range to those who
are in demand. The most serious cut to originate from the political blood bath to
make the Welfare Reform Bill is the modification of nutrient casts to three months
out of every three old ages for unemployed grownups under the age of 50 who do non
attention for any siblings. ( Atlantic Monthly ) Alternatively of cutting down the cow ( the
nutrient prov
ided by the authorities ) , why non cut the hard currency cow that many of our
legislative and executive functionaries enjoy holding on a regular footing? The intelligence
gets better for public assistance receivers. There is now a five twelvemonth cap on public assistance assistance
to all receivers, a cap of $ 16.4 billion yearly for support, with no new
support for occupations and work preparation, and the provinces have been given absolute
power of edict to make as they wish with their appointed amounts of public assistance gross.
Be it non the end of the public assistance system to forestall an rebellion in instance of
economic convulsion and transfuse peace-of-mind that there would be preventative
steps in topographic point in the case of an unanticipated calamity? In the instance of the
new reform measure passed by Congress and the President, public assistance will most likely
cause upheaval alternatively of forestalling it. If this were Broye 4 so, so the
United States must inquire whether malnutrition, maltreatment against kids, and deeper
poorness among its citizens is in the best involvement for the interest of? reform. ?
In 1871, Otto von Bismark created the first societal public assistance insurance known to
the universe to assist forestall cultural rebellions in Germany. One ground for our
contemporary public assistance systems that span around the universe is in portion to the
socialist labour motion, which grew merely as a reaction to blue power.
( Packet, pg.17 ) Industrialization was at the threshold of a new century, and
socialistic ideals began to attest themselves into the values of Europe? s
citizens. The menace of a capitalistic opposition towards socialisation conveying
black economical effects and involvement in ordinance of industry alternatively of
ownership, led to the patterned advance of the current public assistance province system. ( Packet,
pg. 12 ) One guess as to why public assistance plans have done good in European
provinces, unlike that of the U.S. , is because of the? royal tyranny. ?
European bureaucratisms had long been seen as a legitimate power in governmental
regulation, so no 1 opposed the reformation to a public assistance system when endorsed by the
blue bloods. ? The general rules of the public assistance province are as universally
recognized and politically invulnerable in Europe as societal security is to the
elderly. ? ( Packet, pg.17 ) Besides the uniquely different histories that
brought Europe and the United States to develop social-economic public assistance
plans, the comparative size in population per province is a finding factor
stated by one hypothesis. The higher disregard of the American public assistance system
could be traced to the spacial obstructions readily seeable in the U.S. Many
political and societal theoreticians refute this theory on the footing, and non to be
taken out of context, that? size doesn? T matter. ? In fact, many theoreticians
believe that because the U.S. is so tightly- Broye 5 knitted in regard to
people per square stat mi ( an norm of 55 people per square stat mi ) , they should be
able to secure a executable manner of managing the quandary refering public assistance
reform. ( Packet, pg.2 ) The closer you are to a community, the more likeliness of
sharing similar involvements and ends. Another account for America? s public assistance
sufferings is that of calming. America has been severally given the name
? runing pot? for the diverse population it holds within its boundary lines.
European provinces do non hold to postulate to the desires of a mostly diverse
population as greatly because most citizens of Europe have heavy ties to their
fatherland and make non frequently portion from their place of birth. In order to pacify the
bulk of the population in America, compromises must be reached.
Unfortunatley, via media can ( and frequently does ) take to the exclusion of
necessary elements to make a sound reform or economical benefit to the
state? s public assistance. The important constituent that could greatly profit the United
States welfare plan is what Europe learned long ago: cooperation,
consideration, and the belief that no 1 must be denied the right for the basic
demands to prolong life as we know it.
Peter Edelmaun, ? The Worst Thing Bill Clinton Has Done, ? Atlantic
Monthly, March 1996. Robert Heilbroner, ? Benign Neglect in the United
States, ? in Transaction, October 1970, Vol.7 # 12. ( Packet ) John Kautsky,
? Contexts of Conservatism, Liberalism, and Socialism, ? in Society, March
April 1996, Vol. 33 # 3. ( Packet ) Katherine McFate, ? First World Poverty, ? in
Focus, November 1991, Vol. 19 # 11. ( Packet ) ? Mr. Blair Goes to Washington, ?
in The Economist Volume 346, Feb. 7, 1998 pp. 15-16. ( Packet )
