Kohler-Hausmann: Blogpost #2

Katharine Martin

Blogpost #2

Kohler-Hausmann

After President Lyndon B. Johnson declared the national “War on Poverty”, in the 1960s, our government became determined to reduce our country’s poverty rates with various enactments that expanded our welfare system in numerous ways. The welfare system of the United States has changed throughout the years, since Johnson was in office, with new forms of social welfare being practiced and regulated; however, the transition from “morally tested welfare” to “means tested welfare”, inadvertently, created the inescapable culture of poverty that our country still suffers from. The intense regulations and surveillance of welfare recipients has lead many to the belief that this system is focusing too hard on how much people may deserve welfare, instead of how many people actually need and deserve the welfare programs aid. I found this article on CNN and it is no surprise that this traditionally conservative news station has produced an article on the “study from the Cato Institute analyzing the impact of welfare programs on employment concludes that the current welfare system provides such a high level of benefits that it acts as a disincentive for work” (Thompson, 2013). Meaning that, the government believes the welfare programs available are more than enough to provide for people living below the poverty line, and this article serves represent that point of view, as the author claims, “If Congress and state legislatures are serious about reducing welfare dependence and rewarding work, they should consider strengthening welfare work requirements, removing exemptions, and narrowing the definition of work” (Thompson, 2013). Although the intervention of government aid has helped our country’s “issue” of poverty before, I do not agree with this article’s opinion that the welfare system has done more than enough to help those in need and I would hope that conservative people can take a step back from seeing poverty as an issue (particularly, one that's not theirs) and understand that the provisions related to the welfare system are actually what’s perpetuating the cycle of poverty, as people cannot advance financially in our society if they are ever a welfare recipient.

Source

Thompson, CK. 2013. “The State of the Welfare State.” CNN iReport: Washington DC, USA. ( http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-1024482 )