Changes And Continuities In Lyndon Johnson's Great Society
Since Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society, much has been done to address poverty in the United States. Over time, there have been both changes and continuities. One continuity is that politicians have kept Medicare, Medicaid, and the Education subsidies from LBJ’s plan largely intact. One change is that LBJ’s plan focused on directly providing money to those in poverty, while later plans focused on getting people jobs.
Politicians have kept Medicare, Medicaid, and Education subsidies intact from the Great Society. Medicare and Medicaid have the goal of preventing people from going into debt due to medical expenses, specifically seniors and poor children. Medicare and Medicaid have remained unchanged, with the exception of the Affordable Care Act.
The ACA provided money to states to expand Medicaid. Even though not all states expanded Medicaid, none of them cut it. Medicare and Medicaid remain popular programs and politicians do not want to cut them. Education subsidies are also popular, so that program has not been cut either. Education helps people get out of poverty, because people who are better educated are more likely to have jobs, and the jobs that they have are more likely to be better paying.
While the Great Society focused on directly helping people, later efforts to address poverty focused on helping to get jobs. The Great Society made food stamps permanent, allowing families to have food, even if they lose their jobs. Clinton’s welfare reform, however, made getting a job a requirement for receiving benefits. This lowered the overall rate of poverty, but it made poverty worse for the people who could not get a job. People who could not find a job could not provide for their families, leading to them having to make hard choices. Encouraging people to get jobs is a good thing, but those who are left behind suffer for it.
Since LBJ’s war on poverty, there have been both changes and continuities. Medicare, Medicaid, and education subsidies have continued, but aid has transitioned from direct support to help getting a job. Both LBJ’s plan and Clinton’s plan were able to reduce the poverty rate in the years after they were passed.
Politicians have kept Medicare, Medicaid, and Education subsidies intact from the Great Society. Medicare and Medicaid have the goal of preventing people from going into debt due to medical expenses, specifically seniors and poor children. Medicare and Medicaid have remained unchanged, with the exception of the Affordable Care Act.
The ACA provided money to states to expand Medicaid. Even though not all states expanded Medicaid, none of them cut it. Medicare and Medicaid remain popular programs and politicians do not want to cut them. Education subsidies are also popular, so that program has not been cut either. Education helps people get out of poverty, because people who are better educated are more likely to have jobs, and the jobs that they have are more likely to be better paying.
While the Great Society focused on directly helping people, later efforts to address poverty focused on helping to get jobs. The Great Society made food stamps permanent, allowing families to have food, even if they lose their jobs. Clinton’s welfare reform, however, made getting a job a requirement for receiving benefits. This lowered the overall rate of poverty, but it made poverty worse for the people who could not get a job. People who could not find a job could not provide for their families, leading to them having to make hard choices. Encouraging people to get jobs is a good thing, but those who are left behind suffer for it.
Since LBJ’s war on poverty, there have been both changes and continuities. Medicare, Medicaid, and education subsidies have continued, but aid has transitioned from direct support to help getting a job. Both LBJ’s plan and Clinton’s plan were able to reduce the poverty rate in the years after they were passed.