Chapter
19: Domestic Policy
Synopsis
This chapter concentrates on the role of government in
providing for the welfare of its citizens through
government policies. At one time, governments provided
only the minimal resources necessary for security and
order. Now, through the welfare state, most
governments provide a variety of services and programs
designed to shield individuals from economic insecurity
and promote increased economic equality. The promotion of
welfare goals through government is controversial,
however, because it requires government to choose between
freedom and equality.
The Great Depression was crucial in changing
thinking about how much government intervention was
needed to promote social welfare. The New
Deal policies were designed to remedy the problems
caused by economic stagnation by boosting farm prices,
reducing unemployment, and increasing social welfare
expenditures. President Johnson's Great Society
programs carried the spirit and programs of the New Deal
one step further. Comprehensive legislation was passed to
redress political, social, and economic inequality.
Although successful in some areas, the Great
Society programs failed to achieve their goals
because of administrative problems and growing
indifference. After his election in 1980, President
Reagan used the growing disaffection with welfare
programs to cut back overall levels of spending in this
area.
Government has attempted to alleviate some of the
consequences of economic adversity in such crucial areas
as social insurance and public assistance. The most
important kind of social insurance program is
embodied in the social security legislation.
Although there are questions about the financial
viability of the system in the future, significant
changes in social security harbor too much
political risk. Another program, Medicare, has
undergone attacks by conservative critics who see is as a
wasteful and unnecessary intrusion of government in
health care. Meanwhile, because about 15 percent of
non-elderly Americans have no health insurance and rely
on a patchwork public system, the nation is moving
towards some form of health care reform.
Public assistance refers to state-administered
programs that provide cash aid to individuals living
below the federal poverty level. The food stamp
program helps one in ten Americans to improve their
food purchasing power. Bill Clinton vowed to end welfare
"as we know it," and signed legislation in 1996 that will
alter 61 years of government programs. Transforming some
non-means tested benefits into means-tested
benefits also has allure during times of budget
deficit.
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©1998 by Houghton Mifflin
Company. All rights reserved.
Summary
