Nixon’s welfare explosion

— The welfare system exploded during the Nixon/Ford Administration, and I’d never understood why, since Nixon’s not exactly the kind of guy anyone would accuse of having an excess of compassion for the needy and downtrodden. There’s an explanation to be had from the book PatrickRuffini.com // Rants reviews today, “Intellectuals and the American Presidency.” … Continue reading “Nixon’s welfare explosion”

— The welfare system exploded during the Nixon/Ford Administration, and I’d never understood why, since Nixon’s not exactly the kind of guy anyone would accuse of having an excess of compassion for the needy and downtrodden. There’s an explanation to be had from the book PatrickRuffini.com // Rants reviews today, “Intellectuals and the American Presidency.” Nixon hired Democrat Pat Moynihan to reform the welfare system, according to Nixon’s vision where getting rid of social workers was the main priority. With them out of the picture, the welfare system turned into nothing more than a money transfer system, which lead to massive expansion down the road. It turns out the most important thing the welfare system does is help the poor and downtrodden get their lives together and do the things adults have to do, but this work takes adult supervision.

One thought on “Nixon’s welfare explosion”

  1. Why do you suggest we would never expect Nixon to have any concern for the needy? I know it’s popular to consider him the embodiment of evil. But isn’t it possible that he hired Patrick Moynihan to tinker with the welfare system because Moynihan seemed like a guy who could possibly do so in a manner that benifitted the needy? And even if Nixon did want to get rid of welfare workers, is there any chance that that might have been because he felt more of the welfare budget should go directly to the needy, rather than to government middle-people? It seems obvious that something was wrong with the system. I don’t think Nixon fixed it, and he might have made it worse. But I’m not aware of the evidence that that was because he didn’t care or didn’t want to.

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