I think that by 1996 we were far enough bought into the otherization of minorities and immigrants, post-Reagan still waiting for that trickle-down, and experiencing enough wage stagnation in the lower class, that it caused that loss of support for welfare. And those conditions have only worsened since. So now you have a vast class of peo…
I think that by 1996 we were far enough bought into the otherization of minorities and immigrants, post-Reagan still waiting for that trickle-down, and experiencing enough wage stagnation in the lower class, that it caused that loss of support for welfare. And those conditions have only worsened since. So now you have a vast class of people who work so much for so little that they haven't a spare moment, energy, or dime to consider advocating for poor children, even if they do have compassion. Understandably, many feel they must jealously guard what they've worked so hard to scrape together. And, you have the hardworking professional class, who may see the outsize and complex nature of problem and know they can't personally fix it, and who also based on experience don't trust politicians to fix it either, so they make a few charitable donations and hope for the best. They may care and be willing to help, but likely feel the size of the problem requires systemic action of a scale beyond their means and influence.
I don't know what the answer is, other than perhaps if we can reform our political system to remove corporate influence, politicians may have more bandwidth and incentive to address the needs and concerns of constituents rather than prioritizing corporations. Anything that can be done to significantly increase the responsiveness of represesentatives to voter concerns would be a step in the right direction.
I think that by 1996 we were far enough bought into the otherization of minorities and immigrants, post-Reagan still waiting for that trickle-down, and experiencing enough wage stagnation in the lower class, that it caused that loss of support for welfare. And those conditions have only worsened since. So now you have a vast class of people who work so much for so little that they haven't a spare moment, energy, or dime to consider advocating for poor children, even if they do have compassion. Understandably, many feel they must jealously guard what they've worked so hard to scrape together. And, you have the hardworking professional class, who may see the outsize and complex nature of problem and know they can't personally fix it, and who also based on experience don't trust politicians to fix it either, so they make a few charitable donations and hope for the best. They may care and be willing to help, but likely feel the size of the problem requires systemic action of a scale beyond their means and influence.
I don't know what the answer is, other than perhaps if we can reform our political system to remove corporate influence, politicians may have more bandwidth and incentive to address the needs and concerns of constituents rather than prioritizing corporations. Anything that can be done to significantly increase the responsiveness of represesentatives to voter concerns would be a step in the right direction.