Question: Why is welfare constantly referred to as a Democratic program when its a government program?

Question

Why is welfare often associated with the Democratic party when it's a federal policy? Welfare isn't only limited to Democrats or Democratic voters. The last Democratic president (Bill Clinton) signed a bill to cut welfare and change state role. I just don't understand why people talk about welfare as though it's a Democratic program. Could someone explain this to me.
http://www.nytimes.com/specials/issues/money/mondepth/0823welfare-clinton.html

Answer 1

[Sigh] The real reason is simpler than any given so far. Conservatives in the US blame anything bad, anything they don't like, on Democrats and 'liberals'. It's much easier than actually looking at the facts and coming up with a cogent argument.

But also welfare is a social program and Republicans just don't like social programs. Much of the social infrastructure we have in the US goes back to the New Deal, when the Republicans screwed up the country so badly that those 'socialist' Democrats had to come in and straighten things out. Since Reagan, the Republicans have been committed to undoing the New Deal. In the process they've screwed up the country almost as badly as they did in the 1920s so now the people are bringing back the Democrats to clean things up.

For years, Republicans blamed welfare for their inability to balance the budget. This was disingenuous at best, downright dishonest at worst, because welfare was never more than 1% of the federal budget, and if we had just stopped it altogether you couldn't have told the difference. The Iraq War has cost MUCH more than all the money the US govt. has spent in social welfare since it's inception, as did the Savings and Loan catastrophe in the Reagan/Bush years.

Answer 2

Well LBJ was a Democrat and pushed through the so called War on Poverty with a Democrat controlled Congress...

You do ask a good question though since Republicans have had more than a few chances to dump this $11 trillion redistribution of wealth from the productive to the parasitic but they haven't...

The War on Poverty has been the monkey on the back of taxpayers for some 40+ years and its NOT helping us a bit...

Alan Greenspan, 1966: "Stripped of its academic jargon, the welfare state is nothing more than a mechanism by which governments confiscate the wealth of the productive members of a society to support a wide variety of welfare schemes"...

Answer 3

In a strict feel, welfare is easily cash given to non running contributors external of unemployment. This application is referred to as Temporary Assistance to Needy Families. It was referred to as Aid to Families With Dependent Children. I could say welfare additionally entails techniques like meals stamps, medicare and medicaid. There's additionally company welfare. The largest illustration is farming. The federal government. will pay farmers 10s of billions a 12 months. You would additionally incorporate government bigger schooling help techniques in the event you desired an overly vast definition. I suppose incapacity is just too, however somewhat one-of-a-kind in that I style of see welfare as going to individuals who're equipped bodied. You can also be for a few welfare and now not for different welfare, it isn't an all or not anything deal. I think that almost all welfare techniques create dependency on executive, and easily don't seem to be legal by means of the charter. Helping the deficient is the province of peers, loved ones and church, now not the federal government.

Answer 4

Because the Democratic party under Roosevelt started the whole thing, and has constantly supported it ever since. You mentioned Clinton cutting it, it was actually the Republican controlled House and Senate at the time who pushed the cuts into law.

The system was supposed to be for low income old people and disabled people who can not work. It mutated into a give away program for any lazy person who wouldn't work could get it for themselves, their kids, and wives or husbands.

Now we have hundreds of thousands of young and middle age people who are perfectly able to support themselves taking advantage of the program and milking the system from hard working taxpayers.

To make matters worse, the system gave an incentive for mothers to have more babies by giving more money and better apartments the more kids they have. The system is a shame.

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Answer 5

Another good question...

Much of it(but not ALL) goes back to the New Deal w/ FDR. But charity and assistance has been apart of this nation since colonial times (through workhouses and almshouses).

FDR enacted Public Housing(1937) and the Social Security(1939). Which was meant to assist the elderly, disabled, widows and gave temporary assistance through unemployment benefits.But it should also be noted that FDR put THOUSANDS and THOUSANDS to work (WPA) building this great nation. They built libraries,roads,airports,dams,dug ditches,built bridges and so on and so on.....

FDR did continue FERA (Federal Emergency Relief Administration) but that program was originally enacted by Hoover(Republican). This program distributed food,clothing and assisted with housing.

The US made a system of welfare "official" by creating the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare in 1958(Eisenhower-REPUBLICAN) . After that, programs like the Food Stamp Program, Medicare and Medicaid Programs, and supplemental income for single mothers within a certain income bracket have been created to provide assistance to the nation’s poor.

Answer 6

Bill Clinton signed a bill the Republican led congress sent to him with enough votes to override his veto. You seem like a smart person. Listen to the current debates, speeches, and policy talks. The Dem's want to increase all forms of welfare from the federal government on down to the local level. They pay for it every time they're in power by increasing ALL our taxes. Not just those of the rich. It was originally designed as a hand up. Not a way of life. Think about it.

Answer 7

The Platforms of Democrats generally pushes to increase who can benefit from welfare.

Where as the republican party generally works to cut back on who can receive it.

I say generally, because at times both parties are at odds with their stated platform. Democrats will push to decrease welfare, if it is to help businesses and corporations.

And Republicans the other year increased the spending for the perscription Drug program.

Answer 8

IIRC, it was instituted and strongly supported by Democrats, and occassionally, weakly, opposed by Republicans. It's a basically socialist program that's in line with the leftist philosophies generally held by Democrats. And, for that matter, it does benefit Democrats more than republicans - since, as you've pointed out, the poorer demographics have a stronger tendency to register and vote Democrat.

Some issues the Democrats just 'own.' Entitlements are one of them. Environmental issues are another. Then there's 'smoke screen' issues, like the death penalty, abortion, and gay marriage. Republicans, OTOH, traditionally 'own' defense, law & order, and fiscal restraint issues. Obviously, Reps have broken with tradition with regards to that last one.... ;)

Answer 9

That is how Republicans are.

They think people are on welfare is because they don't want to work. They have even gone as far as to say it is reparations for black people, which is ridiculous, because there are more whites on welfare than any other nationality.

The Republicans also believe that people are homeless, because they don't want to work.

That is how sick and evil these people really are. I cannot see why anyone will support that Party.

Answer 10

Democrats have alway been known for its "we the government will take care of you" programs