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The Declaration of Independence was created in 1776 with three basic principles in mind. The pursuits of life, liberty, and happiness were the paramount issues focused on by the framers. The 18th Century was a different time. Back then, every man worked on his own farm. He was expected to provide for himself and his family. It was unheard of for anyone to receive assistance from the government. As the country progressed and evolved, the rich got richer and the poor poorer. The Gilded Age of the late 19th Century truly showed the disparity in wealth in America with billionaire business barons employing penniless workers in deplorable conditions. Progressive reforms came along, pioneered by Teddy Roosevelt and his Bull-Moose Party, restricting rampant business corruption and unfair practices. These changes were not enough though, especially with the onset of the Great Depression. Poverty struck the entire country. Unemployment ravaged blue and white-collar workers alike. The entire country was plunged into despair. Franklin Roosevelt, the 32nd president of the United States, pulled America out of its slump and restored its citizens to global prestige. His revolutionary social welfare programs were the first of their kind established by our government. This power was given to him in the Constitution, where it specifically states tat the government may “provide for the general welfare of the people”. He also broadened the income tax to all workers in 1943, making all of these government-funded programs possible. His bold plans that worked to pull us out of the greatest worldwide depression ever are the foundation for every welfare program we have today. However, once created these programs are very difficult to eliminate. Lyndon Johnson was the next president to make significant advances in social welfare. He launched his War on Poverty, aimed at turning America into a Great Society, one without homeless on the streets or hungry children. In order to accomplish these goals he established liberalized requirements for government money. Over the next thirty years, Johnson’s dreams of a society without poverty were not realized. Time showed his programs did more harm than good, raising the nation debt to staggering proportions. In 1996, Bill Clinton signed a Welfare Reform bill as passed to by a Republican Congress. Reform in 1996 meant cutbacks in aid to the peopl... ... middle of paper ... ... fear of being voted out of office. Every person that holds a vote in Washington must focus on what his or her constituents wants, making sure to please the maximum number of people. When voting of social welfare legislation, most representatives know that many of their voters rely on money from the government and do not want to eradicate a large portion of their incomes. Therefore, congress rarely passes cutbacks; their concern for reelection is too great. Many sources conspire against any sort of reform of social welfare programs, some good, some bad. Originally designed to protect the elderly during the depression, welfare programs evolved to include all of the American poor, but also some factions that were not suffering. Abuse of these programs by corporations leads to a push to eliminate ways for the system to be exploited, but the need of the poor outweighs the negatives. Being the most powerful country in the world means that we should be able to take care of all of our citizens. The wealthiest nation should make sure that children are not hungry and that the elderly are cared for. Without these programs in place, that would not happen, and no one wants the poor to suffer.
There have been numerous debates within the last decade over what needs to be done about welfare and what is the best welfare reform plan. In the mid-1990s the TANF, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, Act was proposed under the Clinton administration. This plan was not received well since it had put a five year lifetime limit on receiving welfare and did not supply the necessary accommodations to help people in poverty follow this guideline. Under the impression that people could easily have found a job and worked their way out of poverty in five years, the plan was passed in 1996 and people in poverty were immediately forced to start looking for jobs. When the TANF Act was up for renewal earlier this year, the Bush administration carefully looked at what the TANF Act had done for the poverty stricken. Bush realized that, in his opinion, the plan had been successful and should stay in effect with some minor tweaking. Bush proposed a similar plan which kept the five year welfare restriction in place but did raise the budgeted amount of money to be placed towards childcare and food stamps. Both the TANF Act and Bush's revised bill have caused a huge controversy between liberal and conservative activists. The liberals feel that it is cruel to put people in a situation where they can no longer receive help from the government since so many people can not simply go out and get a job and work their way out of poverty. They feel if finding a job was that easy, most people would have already worked their way out of poverty. The conservatives feel that the plans, such as the TANF Act, are a surefire way to lower poverty levels and unemployment rates as well as decrease the amount o...
President Franklin Roosevelt was one of the greatest presidents in the history of the United States. He created economic stability when the United States was suffering through the Great Depression. In his first three months of office, known as the Hundred Days, Roosevelt took immediate action to help the struggling nation.1 "In a period of massive unemployment, a collapsed stock market, thousands of banks closing for lack of liquidity, and agricultural prices fallen below the cost of production," Roosevelt passed a series of relief measures.2 These relief measures, known as the New Deal, provided help for individuals and businesses to prevent bankruptcy. Also, the New Deal is responsible for social security, welfare, and national parks. A further reason why Roosevelt is considered a great president is because he was a good role model for being determined in his...
When he took office, 'the nation was in the fourth year of a disastrous economic crisis' and 'a quarter of the labor force was out of work [and] the banks had been closed in thirty-eight states' (Greenstein 16). In order to remedy these problems and restore trust in the government, FDR enacted the New Deal in the Hundred Days legislation. Many of the programs created in the legislation are still around today in some form, continuing to show FDR's influence on the modern presidency. Such programs as the Works Progress Administration and The Tennessee Valley Authority helped poor Americans unable to get jobs or afford the luxury of electricity. These programs were some of the major reasons FDR was so popular during his terms in office. Also created was the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which insured the money in banks. This helped because then in the case of another bank crisis, people's money would not be lost. The FDIC was another reason, along with FDR's rhetoric, that people began to trust the banks and government again. One major policy FDR began was social security, which is still around today. When creating this idea of social security, it is clear he meant it to help the people, but also that he meant it to be permanent. FDR wanted, and received, a lasting effect on the government. By designing and implementing so many new programs and policies to help Americans, FDR showed what
Welfare programs are an important part of American society. Without any type of American welfare, people will starve, children will not receive the proper education, and people will not receive any medical help simply because they do not have the resources available to them. Each of the three aspects of the American welfare system are unique in their own ways because they are funded differently and the benefits are given to different people. While support for these welfare systems has declined in the more recent years, the support for it when it was created was strong.
The welfare system arose in the United States during the Great Depression, by the Social Security Act in the 1930s, providing medical and monetary aid to minorities such as women and their children, the elderly and later, entire families. During the Great Depression the Welfare system helped many families survive. Like many of the relief programs that were put into effect Welfare became a reform program, and remained permanent. Extensions to the original programs that had been created during the Great Depression were created in the New Deal, and Great society. Over this time, Welfare reform became stricter with its policy and was only attainable for a short term. Welfare which was once meant to provide relief to families, has been abused greatly, and has become a serious issue in the United States. The Welfare program is a negative aspect of the government’s social programs, because of the increasing fraudulency and abuse that occurs, in order to meet the welfare eligibility requirements. Welfare system is financed along with the total finances.
The United States is sometimes described as a “reluctant welfare state.” I agree with this statement. Too often there are programs created by our government that, although may be lined with good intentions, end up failing in their main purpose. The government may, and hopefully does, seek to help its citizens. However, by applying unreasonable qualifying or maintenance criteria, or too many restrictions that bar people from even receiving aid at all, they end up with many more problems than solutions. Three examples of policies that do this are: Medicare, No Child Left Behind, and TANF, or the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families.
Welfare has been a safety net for many Americans, when the alternative for them is going without food and shelter. Over the years, the government has provided income for the unemployed, food assistance for the hungry, and health care for the poor. The federal government in the nineteenth century started to provide minimal benefits for the poor. During the twentieth century the United States federal government established a more substantial welfare system to help Americans when they most needed it. In 1996, welfare reform occurred under President Bill Clinton and it significantly changed the structure of welfare. Social Security has gone through significant change from FDR’s signing of the program into law to President George W. Bush’s proposal of privatized accounts.
The New Deal, established by Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933, was a series of programs put into affect to fix the Great Depression that the United States was currently in. Beginning with the crash of the stock market on October 29, 1929, America was plunged into its most severe economic downturn yet. Roosevelt developed this plan to save the country. At this time the people of America were in a huge economic unrest. Most in America were homeless or unemployed. Roosevelt created his programs to help these exact people from poverty. He assured the people of America that his programs would help the crumbling economy, mass unemployment, and low wages. This chain of programs raised both nationalism and national character throughout America for a few years. The author of this excerpt had a very negative view of FDR’s work and critiqued every program within the New Deal. Roosevelt’s programs have many long-term consequences, some of which are still in effect today. Most of the programs still in action were modified in the 1960’s, these are the present day welfare programs that most people are accustomed to. While the New Deal was not entirely successful, Franklin D. Roosevelt did the best he could with the time and circumstances given.
Roosevelt immediately gained the public's favor with his liberal ideas. In the first 100 days, Roosevelt stabilized banks with the Federal Bank Holiday. In the New Deal he fought poverty with the TVA, NRA, AAA, CCC, PWA, and CWA. These policies were definitely liberal in the 1930's and because of the new programs, Roosevelt received false credit for ending the Depression. Ironically Roosevelt succeeded only a little more than Hoover in ending the Depression. Despite tripling expenditures during Roosevelt's administration, (Document F) the American economy did not recover from the Depression until World War II.
In 1962, President John F. Kennedy raised the current welfare payments and renamed the program, Aid to Families with Dependent Children. Kennedy allowed states to require work in order to receive welfare, but didn’t require it. Kennedy also laid out the new goal for welfare in America, it was to “end poverty, not just alleviate poverty” (Background: Time for a new Approach). Kennedy said welfare should be “a hand up, not a hand out." Welfare continued to change...
The welfare system is a carnage to the U.S.. Welfare is a waste of money, ObamaCare is destroying small businesses, and ObamaCare penalizes hard workers. Many people are oblivious of the things done by welfare systems.
After the creation of the SSA, a program was in place whereby those who have reached the age of 65 could receive a pension to live with during their old age. The important fact here is that the SSA is a public, federal, organization. When created, it helped to shift the focus away from private organizations performing the same function and increase the focus on a public organization doing so. In many Americans’ minds, this began to associate the government with protection and it made it so that the government was expected to provide welfare to those in need. Before, the idea of the government providing welfare was much less prevalent. This effect has continued, and increased until today—when unemployment benefits are
American government had a hands off approach to welfare until the Great Depression caused so much suffering for thousands and thousands of people. It wasn’t just a few people in this town or that town that were suffering, it was most of the people in most cities and towns in the country. During the Great Depression, America had never seen as much unemployment, poverty, homelessness and
Social welfare is an expansive system proposed to maintain the well being of individuals within a society. This paper will explain the progression from the feudal system and church provisions for the poor before the Elizabethan Poor Law to the gradual assumption of the responsibility for the poor by the government. A responsibility assumed not out of humanity and concern for the poor, but as a process of standardizing the ways in which the poor were to be managed. The history of social welfare reflects differences in values as they relate to social responsibility in taking care of the needy. Our society has been influenced by values like Judeo-Christian humanitarianism and the economic doctrine of laissez faire. Our present social welfare structure is also influenced by these values.