To Fight Welfare Reform After the Evidence Is In
June 9, 2023 4:19 pm ET Sen. Bernie Sanders and other Democratic senators hold a news conference on Capitol Hill, May 18. Photo: EVELYN HOCKSTEIN/REUTERS I remember welfare-reform politicking in 1996 and the Republican effort to add a work requirement (“Lost Lessons of the 1996 Welfare Reform” by Kate Bachelder Odell, Weekend Interview, June 3). I was skeptical, but the results were impressive. Unfortunately, Democrats who didn’t learn are still peddling panaceas musty with age and encumbered with futility. They believe that wealth redistribution in general, including welfare payments without a work stipulation, is the ticket to success—both for putting money in the pockets of the less fortunate and garnering votes from them. Greasing these skids requires stimulating class antagonism and attributing inequality to discrimination. This is high-pressure salesma
Sen. Bernie Sanders and other Democratic senators hold a news conference on Capitol Hill, May 18.
Photo: EVELYN HOCKSTEIN/REUTERS
I remember welfare-reform politicking in 1996 and the Republican effort to add a work requirement (“Lost Lessons of the 1996 Welfare Reform” by Kate Bachelder Odell, Weekend Interview, June 3). I was skeptical, but the results were impressive. Unfortunately, Democrats who didn’t learn are still peddling panaceas musty with age and encumbered with futility. They believe that wealth redistribution in general, including welfare payments without a work stipulation, is the ticket to success—both for putting money in the pockets of the less fortunate and garnering votes from them.
Greasing these skids requires stimulating class antagonism and attributing inequality to discrimination. This is high-pressure salesmanship as well as pandering and demagoguery.
Paul Bloustein
Cincinnati
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