Losing the Center: The Decline of American Liberalism, 1968–1992

6. The Middle East of Domestic Politics: Jimmy Carter and Welfare Reform

6 the Middle east of Domestic Politics Jimmy Carter and Welfare Reform Linda taylor wore many hats. A voodoo doctor, bigamist, suspected child nabber, and overall con artist, the forty-seven-year-old Chicagoan also earned infamy in the 1976 presidential campaign.1 identified as the nation’s most notorious “welfare queen” by ronald reagan, taylor found herself in the governor’s standard stump speech. though the gipper failed to capture the goP nomination, “welfare cheats” became customary boilerplate for the new right. ronald reagan understood the power of an anecdote. Cutting through the highfalutin fog of details, a well-told and -timed yarn emotionally connected voters to abstract issues. As he was wont to do, reagan stretched the truth by claiming that taylor possessed eighty aliases, thirty addresses, and twelve social security accounts—but only a little.2 in addition to fraudulent cash payments, which paid for her Lincoln, Chevrolet station wagon, and Cadillac, taylor also collected benefits for her “deaf, retarded, and totally disabled” daughter, a claim that investigators discovered to be totally false.3 Critics sneered and rolled their eyes at reagan’s “anecdotage,” but voters responded.4 By making welfare queens the symbol of the liberal welfare state, reagan and the new right slowly turned voters against it. in fact, during the 1970s no single domestic issue damaged liberals more than welfare .5 Whether it was food stamps or cash assistance, state aid to the nonworking poor became political kryptonite for liberals. With reagan using a few high-profile cheats and fudging the facts, republicans led voters to believe that “people . . . have it to[o] easy on Welfare better than those that work.”6 America’s individualistic political culture has always produced popular 116 Losing the Center antipathy toward a thoroughgoing welfare state. the flaccid economy during the 1970s, coupled with expanding social service spending for the nonworking poor, rendered voters even more hostile to welfare. Moreover, the economic woes of the 1970s, namely, stagflation, were particularly traumatic when experienced against the still-fresh memories of the 1960s. As late as 1969, the U.s. economy boasted 3.3 percent unemployment and 6.4 percent growth rates. By the early 1970s, those economic times had surely passed. An economy burdened by inflation reached a crisis point when the 1973–1974 Arab oil embargo spawned spiraling prices and unemployment. together, this mishmash made economic history and caused economists to invent a new term: stagflation. Prior to the 1970s, economists presumed that high unemployment and rising inflation violated basic economic principles. in 1975, however, unemployment and inflation reached near-historic levels, 8.5 percent and 11 percent—hence, the new coinage.7 Consequently, American workers faced an economy in which their dollar’s buying power was cut in half from 1970 to 1980.8 encouraged by reagan and their tax bills, many turned their ire toward welfare recipients. President Jimmy Carter signing Air transportation reform, october 24, 1978 (courtesy Jimmy Carter Library and Museum) the Middle east of Domestic Politics 117 Whether it was because of welfare queens or supposedly posh public housing, conservatives tapped into voters’ belief that the nonworking poor were bleeding them dry. the burgeoning costs of welfare were not merely a figment of taxpayers’ imagination. owing to great society programs instituted in the mid-1960s, social services for the nonworking poor increased precipitously in the 1970s. Moreover, the costs borne by the federal government had to be matched by states and localities. For example, new Jersey reported that state funds spent on welfare rose from $35.7 million in 1966 to almost $501 million in 1976 while the number of people enrolled rose by only 13 percent.9 As a result of spiraling expenditures, states and localities either increased taxes or reduced other public services. the most controversial of all welfare programs was Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC). As a direct cash benefit to the nonworking poor, AFDC became synonymous, in the public mind, with welfare. As the number of single female-headed households skyrocketed throughout the 1960s and 1970s, the AFDC budget increased, and so did public ire at liberals. Entitlement versus Opportunity Liberals ironically, Franklin roosevelt’s new Deal coalition was being undermined by a welfare policy he would have abhorred.10 indeed, FDr always felt that relief was akin to a subtle narcotic suppressing the human spirit. According to this premise, social security was established on the...