The Politics of Welfare Reform: Analyzing the Impact of the Two-Party System

Abstract

Welfare spending in the United States has dramatically increased over the past 50 years and as a consequence has provided greater opportunity for welfare dependency to occur. The two-party political climate has drawn support from different voter bases who benefit in different ways from contrasting welfare related policies resulting in welfare spending increasing despite different administrations over time. Meanwhile social factors remain prevalent and in conjunction with the growing welfare spending, partly caused by politics, has led to dependency. As politicians toe the party line, the prospect of bipartisanship shrinks along with the solutions to a constantly growing problem. Despite the influence of politics on the welfare state, its morals and ethics remain uncompromised making it even harder to amend.