Here is where the factions stand on the welfare state:
- CDs: All Americans are morally entitled to a decent standard of living. A robust welfare state is necessary to ensure that the elderly and the unfortunate do not fall below that line. Markets cannot be relied upon to solve these problems.
- CLs: America is for rugged individuals. Redistributing from the wealthy to the poor increases the size of government, destroys freedom, and creates perverse incentives. Americans should work to live–not lounge in the hammock of dependency.
- PBPs: The business of America is business. Welfare states for individuals cost too much and should be cut back wherever possible. Tax breaks, subsidies, and tariffs for worthy, struggling businesses are another matter altogether . . .
- Reactionaries: A strong, but limited, welfare state is necessary to protect struggling white Christian workers from unfair competition from foreigners and illegal immigrants. Lazy minorities need not apply.
So what is the lowest common denominator among these groups? Resist any expansion of safety net programs which is supported by Democratic presidents and which disproportionately helps poor minorities, while protecting programs which predominantly help white workers and large businesses or which are proposed by GOP presidents in an effort to create a permanent conservative majority.