Towards a More Just Society

Towards A More Just Society

In order to create a more just and equitable society, social welfare policy must work on both a micro, as well as a macro level. In the United States, the current system is dominated by institutions based on the proposition that an inherent class structure that promotes wealth distribution to the upper class. It can be argued that the disparity in income inequality has been widening since the early 1980s under the economic policies enacted under the direction of President Reagans administration. The move towards social justice has been continuously thwarted by what Wilensky called the reluctant welfare state (as cited in Blau and Abramovitz, 2010). Americans ideology does not believe in taking care of people they perceive as over-needy or exploitive of the system through using such entitlement programs such as Medicare and Medicaid. Welfare recipients are perceived as having a moral flaw in their character, or not pulling their own weight. To achieve social change, it must be driven by an inherent tension between several factors such as the economy, the government, history, ideology, and lastly, social movements that brings the first four factors together (Blau et al., 2010). Social movements such as the Civil Rights movement of 1960s, made a great leap forward towards helping oppressed minorities such as African-Americans, women, and gay and lesbians, the disabled, and the poor with various rights, benefits, and privileges afforded within our society. At the same time, the aforementioned minorities have not achieve full equality caused by other factors related to the ideology of rugged individualism that Americans falsely believes that one can pull one setup by their bootstraps neglecting the historical context of racism, sexism, homophobia, and

Towards a More Just Society

institution factors that can inhibit an individual from reaching true equality on both macro and micro level. For instance, individuals who are defined by as living below the poverty line become marginalized some would argue by the limitations of governmental assistance which has the paradoxical effect of keeping them dependent on the government by penalizing them for needing such entitlements rather than creating incentives to helping them. One example of this would be a worker in the manufacturing sector that has been laid off by the current recession becomes dependent on unemployment benefits which has a built-in time limit that forces the worker to take any job that meets job requirements that matches their current level of job skills for potential reduced wages and often needing to take a secondary job just to match their previous income level rather than supporting initiatives that promote job training in a new field. It has frequently been said that within political discourse that all politics is local. Consequently, public policy makers must look at the local communities that they are serving and seek social policy initiatives that will seek to implement a solution to an emergent need in the community. Using the aforementioned example, policymakers must look to support programs that help re-train displaced workers by either giving low interest federal loans and/or grants for those who go back to college to further their education and reenter the workforce. There are several local steps that can be made by our community that could have last impact on society at large. We can support candidates who will pass legislation that will extend and enhance unemployment benefits to ensure that the unemployed workers are able to recover without losing their sense of dignity and worth. Another policy measure should be the active campaigning of the repeal of the tax cuts which will bring in tax revenue that could help be used to support local and nationwide initiatives to contract construction workers to repair local

Towards a More Just Society

infrastructure that have gone unrepaired. Other steps that the general public can seek to support local food pantries through volunteering and/or donating non-perishable food on a weekly basis. The election of President Obama was heralded by the Left as the referendum and repudiation of the last eight years of President Bushs domestic and foreign policies which had accelerated the existing policies already put in place in the early 1980s. Many voters had voted for a change to the status quo by ending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan which had not brought Americans any closer to ending terrorism. And with a slumping economy, voters were envisioning the second coming of FDR, where the full force of government would establish similar programs that would reverse the tide of unemployment and reenergize not only the economy, but the whole nation and bring back prosperity for all Americans. Instead, the election had the reverse effect, a burgeoning, fringe social movement mainly from the Right, labeling themselves as the Tea Party has forced moderate Republicans to veer further to the right of the political spectrum by pushing back on President Obamas policy agenda. Their ideology claims to be against big government spending but on the other hand they are very satisfied with the current entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare as long as they are the recipients of these entitlement programs. In a more just society where the U.S. enjoys an abundance of wealth unknown by the majority people in the world; most of the distribution of wealth goes to the top. In most developed nations, the public enjoys a better standard of living with a more generous healthcare and educational system for all. The American public needs to begin to serious ask the question Is the American Dream only for the few and fortunate?

Towards a More Just Society