Hays's essay begins with the charting of the Welfare Reform Law of 1996 that flooded states with federal funds to fit their individual needs in the welfare area. She sets up a comparison between two "state" policies (Arbordale and Sunbelt), and how their approaches differed and remained neither too generous or extremem.
Her main argument: the logic of the welfare recipient as being trained to become a respectable mainstream worker, thereby turning independence into a simple notion of paid work, is fundamentally flawed....1) the assumption that most recipients previously lacked motivation to work. 2) the work typically available to welfare recipients does not offer the support necessary for that type of independence.
She argues that for some, welfare has provided just the financial boost that a family has needed in order to gain stablity, but for many, the welfare reforms required the opposite of what desperate families/mothers needed at the time. It was telling to hear how many of the recipients had a positive outlook on their situation, regardless of how much it was improving--the vast majority of them were grateful and optimistic.
An interesting quote: "At a practical as well as moral level, the services and income supports offered by the PRA have clearly been positive. Yet in the long run and in the aggregate, poor mothers and children are worse off now than they were prior to reform." The question of "is work better than welfare" seems to be one that Hays is putting forth to be debated.
She covers many of the issues, but oddly seems to focus only upon recipients who are mothers? She believes that welfare does work in many senses and provide worthwhile aid, but that it is merely a chip in the efforts needed to respond to the social changes and problems interspersed throughout the lower tiers of the social hierarchy.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Essay: Elections and Government
Do elections contribute to good Government?
If "good government" pertains to the advancement of Democracy through enhancing the ability of citizens to partake in governmental participation, while also socializing political activity for the masses, then elections by all means is a major contributor. While there are many factors that contribute to all around good government, elections stand out among others as a unique institution, a practice subject to rules and regulations that can be predicted and standardized. It is through this institution that nationwide politcal participation can take place on a scale as large that of elections.
One of the most important, yet often overlooked stengths of elections is that they allow for civilized, mass political involvement. As witnessed by human activities throughout history, competition between large groups of people with clashing interests often is reduced to anarchical, sporadic and often violent activity--a fight to the death. Elections allow this exact activity to take place. The difference, however, lies in the formality of national policies that "civilize" these interactions, making the process of mass participation accessible and predictable. In this way elections not only encourage citizens to partake in these political activities, but they establish order by reducing the liklehood of volatile action.
An equally important role of elections in contributing to good government is to increase support for governmental power. Contrasting with the approach of authroritarian regimes, democratic governments must always keep a close eye on citizen-government relationship. Elections not only work to rally support for political leaders in the government but they are tools for legitimizing rule. By allowing the people to vote, government gains a kind of "acceptance" from the them that allows policies to be more nationally accepted. In exchange for voicing their political opinion, the masses are voicing their accepting the policy of those in power. By providing this legitimacy, in accordance with taming and giving rules to the act of nationwide political participation and competition, elections contribute to and reinforce good government.
If "good government" pertains to the advancement of Democracy through enhancing the ability of citizens to partake in governmental participation, while also socializing political activity for the masses, then elections by all means is a major contributor. While there are many factors that contribute to all around good government, elections stand out among others as a unique institution, a practice subject to rules and regulations that can be predicted and standardized. It is through this institution that nationwide politcal participation can take place on a scale as large that of elections.
One of the most important, yet often overlooked stengths of elections is that they allow for civilized, mass political involvement. As witnessed by human activities throughout history, competition between large groups of people with clashing interests often is reduced to anarchical, sporadic and often violent activity--a fight to the death. Elections allow this exact activity to take place. The difference, however, lies in the formality of national policies that "civilize" these interactions, making the process of mass participation accessible and predictable. In this way elections not only encourage citizens to partake in these political activities, but they establish order by reducing the liklehood of volatile action.
An equally important role of elections in contributing to good government is to increase support for governmental power. Contrasting with the approach of authroritarian regimes, democratic governments must always keep a close eye on citizen-government relationship. Elections not only work to rally support for political leaders in the government but they are tools for legitimizing rule. By allowing the people to vote, government gains a kind of "acceptance" from the them that allows policies to be more nationally accepted. In exchange for voicing their political opinion, the masses are voicing their accepting the policy of those in power. By providing this legitimacy, in accordance with taming and giving rules to the act of nationwide political participation and competition, elections contribute to and reinforce good government.
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