Kimberly J. Morgan Quotes
Generous, effective, and broadly accessible social welfare policies do not require large government bureaucracies staffed with armies of public servants.
Kimberly J. Morgan, Political Scientist, “America’s Misguided Approach To Social Welfare”, Foreign Affairs, January / February 2013
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
He later claimed that he misspoke. He was particularly damaged by this statement as he was personally very wealthy, was supported by most large corporations, and had been accused of only worrying about the rich and business.
What makes this a noteworthy political quotation is that when he made the statement, his party had lurched to the radical right and almost no one else in the Republican party would publicly say that the Federal Government had any legitimate role that involved social services, food distribution, welfare or health care. Also the Republican Presidential candidate the day before had been discovered writing off the poorest 43 percent of the country. Heller however, was up for reelection in a state what was hit much harder than most in the Great Recession and without Federal Assistance many state residents would be in terrible circumstances and Heller would not fare well in the election if he took the then required Republican ideology. Also, Heller came from a blue collar family and had a much different outlook than most Republicans of that particular time.
Both of these programs have been amongst the most popular programs in American History. Yet for Republican conservatives at the beginning of the 21st century, these were programs that they wanted to either terminate of alter in such severe manners that they would not be anything like the original programs. When these programs were passed by Congress, most Republicans were opposed to the legislation but enough were supportive to have bipartisan support. However, by 2000, most liberal Republicans had been driven out of the party, and it was the Democrats who kept the programs alive and in force despite the Republican assaults. The Democrats had public opinion on their side on these battles and even most registered Republicans opposed President George W. Bush’s major attempt to privatize Social Security.
This is an amazing quotation that many conservatives who quote Mill often,do not know of its extence. Mill not only advocated a minimum welfare payment to the destittue to prevent abject poverty, just he actually proposed that there be no criterion as to whether the welfare recepient deserved the welfare of not. This is an idea taht was tought to sell even in the 21st century in most democracies.
