If the definition of public policy is “the outcome of the struggle in government over who gets what” (Cochran & Malone, 2010, p. 14), then it would be reasonable to evaluate policy based on who got what over a given period of time. The economic condition of American families suggests the wealthy have generally maintained control over the national policy agenda. Income distribution in the U.S. today is nearly as unequal as it was in the 1920s; the top 1 percent of Americans received 24 percent of the nation’s income in 1928 and 23 percent in 2012 (Institute for Policy Studies, n.d.). Another way to view economic disparity – wealth inequality – shows the gap between whites and blacks has widened since the recent recession (Kochhar & Fry, 2014).
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948). The New Deal solutions to unemployment and poverty were “comparatively innocuous” in relationship to developments in other parts of the world at the time. Cochran and Malone (2010) note that social turmoil in Germany led to the rise of Adolf Hitler (p. 124). Economist John Maynard Keynes viewed New Deal policies as having saved the free market system from “the growing attractions of communism” (p. 129). Moreover, they were tempered in ways to satisfy the ruling elite. Cornerstones of the New Deal, Social Security and unemployment, are examples of social insurance, provisions available to those who work. Beland (2010) explains that the relationship between these benefits and work allowed Americans to view them as “earned rights,” aligning with the American value of self-reliance (p. 24). He also writes that Social Security originally did not cover domestic and agricultural workers; in this way, President Franklin Roosevelt gained the support of powerful Southern interests by excluding blacks (p. 77). Of all the possible options in what Birkland (2015) calls the agenda universe (p. 170), the policies that rose to the national agenda during the Great Depression amounted to the most palatable means to preserve the U.S political system and free market, which – given income distribution at the time – provided the greatest benefit to the wealthy. The elite theory of power views elites as dominating policy agenda (p. 169), not ruling unilaterally. New Deal policies may have rescued the disadvantaged, but they also preserved the position of the
948). The New Deal solutions to unemployment and poverty were “comparatively innocuous” in relationship to developments in other parts of the world at the time. Cochran and Malone (2010) note that social turmoil in Germany led to the rise of Adolf Hitler (p. 124). Economist John Maynard Keynes viewed New Deal policies as having saved the free market system from “the growing attractions of communism” (p. 129). Moreover, they were tempered in ways to satisfy the ruling elite. Cornerstones of the New Deal, Social Security and unemployment, are examples of social insurance, provisions available to those who work. Beland (2010) explains that the relationship between these benefits and work allowed Americans to view them as “earned rights,” aligning with the American value of self-reliance (p. 24). He also writes that Social Security originally did not cover domestic and agricultural workers; in this way, President Franklin Roosevelt gained the support of powerful Southern interests by excluding blacks (p. 77). Of all the possible options in what Birkland (2015) calls the agenda universe (p. 170), the policies that rose to the national agenda during the Great Depression amounted to the most palatable means to preserve the U.S political system and free market, which – given income distribution at the time – provided the greatest benefit to the wealthy. The elite theory of power views elites as dominating policy agenda (p. 169), not ruling unilaterally. New Deal policies may have rescued the disadvantaged, but they also preserved the position of the