One of the few political topics on which there is near universal agreement is that the Great Society initiatives of the mid-1960s failed. Intended to help poor Americans lift themselves out of poverty, welfare programs allowed the shameless to become permanent wards of the state. Economic poverty was replaced by a more insidious behavioral poverty, as a parasitic and often predatory underclass grew larger and more entrenched. Much to the relief of productive citizens and with strong bipartisan support, President Bill Clinton signed welfare reform legislation in 1996.
The lesson learned, after 30 years, was that no amount of money can substitute for personal responsibility. Educational opportunities mean nothing if youngsters refuse to do their homework. Job training serves no purpose for people unwilling to work. Pumping money into communities doesn’t solve the problem of teenagers having babies they cannot support or dropping out of school to sell drugs.
Yet Barack Obama’s idea of “change we can believe in” is to go backward 40 years and try again — at much higher cost — what didn’t work the first time. Compare his platform to what President Johnson proposed to Congress in 1964.
Johnson: “Through a new program of loans and guarantees we can provide incentives to those who will employ the unemployed.”
Obama: “Invest $250 million per year to increase the number and size of business incubators in disadvantaged communities throughout the country.”
Johnson: “Through programs of work and retraining for unemployed fathers and mothers, we can help them support their families in dignity while preparing themselves for new work.”
Obama: “Invest $1 billion over five years in transitional jobs and career pathway programs that implement proven methods of helping low-income Americans succeed in the work force.”
Johnson: “Give high priority to helping young Americans who lack skills, who have not completed their education or who cannot complete it because they are too poor.”
Obama: “Guarantee every American an affordable, world-class, top-notch, lifelong education from early childhood to high school, from college to on-the-job training.”
Johnson: “Build a new national job corps toward an enlistment of 100,000 young men … whose background, health and education make them least fit for useful work. Half of these young men will work on special conservation projects to give them education, useful work experience and to enrich the natural resources of the country.”
Obama: “Create an energy-focused youth jobs program to invest in disconnected and disadvantaged youth. This program will provide youth participants with environmental service opportunities. … Participants will not only be able to use their training to find new jobs, but also build skills that will help them move up the career ladder over time.”
Johnson: “Among older people who have retired, as well as among the young, among women as well as men, there are many Americans who are ready to enlist in our war against poverty.”
Obama: “Expand and improve programs that connect individuals over the age of 55 to quality volunteer opportunities.”
Johnson: “Give every American community the opportunity to develop a comprehensive plan to fight its own poverty and help them to carry out their plans.”
Obama: “Work with community and business leaders to identify and address the unique economic barriers of every major metropolitan area.”
Johnson: “Give many workers and farmers the opportunity to break through particular barriers that bar their escape from poverty.”
Obama: “Work with farmers and investors to increase renewable energy production and create new local jobs.”
Johnson: “Therefore this bill creates, in the Executive Office of the President, a new Office of Economic Opportunity. Its director will be my personal chief of staff for the war against poverty.”
Obama: “I will create a White House Office of Urban Policy. … The director of urban policy will report directly to the president and coordinate all federal urban programs.”
When Johnson’s plan was enacted in 1965, 17 percent of Americans were categorized as poor. By the mid-1990s — after taxpayers spent more $5.4 trillion trying to eliminate poverty — the situation was virtually unchanged.
Any rational person can conclude that government spending does not cure social pathology. Yet Obama is re-peddling the Great Society’s failures as “change we can believe in.” We can believe that it represents change, all right — if history teaches, change for the worse.
Examiner Columnist Melanie Scarborough is an award-winning commentary writer whose work has appeared in more than two dozen newspapers, magazines and books.
