The poor is a sexy term nowadays. Dr. Cornel West and media personality Tavis Smiley recently launched a poverty tour aimed at bringing attention to the plight of the poor, a segment of the population largely ignored by mainstream America.
President Barack Obama was chided for failing to even mention the poor in his recent State of the Union speech and most politicians only talk about protecting the middle class and not uplifting the poor.
Everyone seems to be concerned that there is no talk about the poor but it seems as if the poor are the ones being attacked.
Back in 1996 former President Bill Clinton signed into law the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA). Basically the bill was designed to encourage the poor to get jobs and gave states independence over welfare delivery.
Republicans lauded the new law and Clinton said that the new bill will give “structure, meaning and dignity to most of our lives.”
Too bad that dream was never realized.
PRWORA has failed to give jobs to the neediest amongst us. According to Sherwood Ross, a media consultant with the Massachusetts School of Law, the Welfare Reform act has eliminated educational opportunities for the poor.
Sherwood goes on to state that without a proper education the act has guaranteed that the poor will remain in poverty.
Yesterday Michel Martin, host of National Public Radio’s Tell Me More, interviewed former Republican National Committee Chair Michael Steele and he affirmed that the act has failed to deliver on its promise to aid the poor to receive gainful employment. He states that the government has a habit of looking at things from a static point of view instead of in a fluid manner.
The interview can be heard in its entirety here, Tell Me More.
Further evidence from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities suggests that the decrease in the number of Americans receiving welfare is actually a bad thing. The reason is because as more poor people get jobs, most in the low paying category, more poor families are ineligible to receive welfare that actually need it.
It’s impossible to remain above the poverty line making $7.25 without some type of assistance. In essence, the government has further handicapped the poor by pushing them down on a jagged road filled with pillows.
President Bill Clinton made a campaign promise to reform welfare back in 1992 and he finally delivered on that promise four years later. While he vetoed two previous bills by Republicans before signing PRWORA into law Clinton’s so-called good deed did nothing to aid the people he so often appeals to.
Democrats are in a similar situation now as Republicans are fighting to cut so-called entitlement programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. Those on the right are screaming that these programs are the largest drivers of the national debt but that argument only appeared once President Obama said that there needs to be tax reform for the rich.
This dangerous cycle of vilifying those who need our help the most will only lead to the further decay of our nation.
Bottom line is our government has failed the poor and has no plans to adequately help the poor. Some Americans view those who receive any type of government assistance as a drain on the American economic system and that viewpoint may never change.
15 years after Clinton’s Welfare Reform Act we only see failure and not much progress.
-JH
