Welfare War In The United States of America

Essay by snjalil1College, UndergraduateB+, August 2008

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The United States of America... the land of the free and the home of the tax-stricken. The country that is known as "the last superpower in the world" that developed the deadliest weapon on earth, sent the first person to the moon, and was the birthplace of the most powerful man in the world, Bill Gates, has forty million people (which include ten million children) without basic healthcare coverage. (Packet, pg.58) Although this "supernation" boasts of the "American dream," where the poor become rich overnight, the typical American citizen does not have a "super" lifestyle.

Based on the average income of Americans, "one in every five U.S. nonelderly households are poor, one in four young households are poor, and over half of all households headed be a lone parent are poor." (Packet, pg.1) Though the United States has tried to mimic the welfare systems of that of Europe, the bureaucratic "red tape" and the conflicts that reside between the legislature and executive branches of the government have hindered the progress towards an effective welfare reform policy.

In order to understand the progressions towards refining the wounded welfare system of the United States, one must first know what welfare means. The welfare state is "a state which takes the prime role in ensuring the provision of a minimum standard of living for citizens." (Professor VonDoepp) The two goals of the welfare state is that of 1. security against socio-economic deprivation (especially with the current Capitalistic system which families base their entire lifestyle on the outcome of the economy) Broye 2 2. equality against the still present racial tension and economical barriers that reside in society.

Many critics of welfare programs across the world have argued whether the U.S. is really a welfare state because of the limited role played by...