Customer Reviews

Welfare's End (Cornell Paperbacks)

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Mink addresses the topic in a small but powerful volume, analyzing the so-called welfare system as it truly is; an intentional labyrinthian trap, designed to keep vulnerable members of society, men, as well as women and children in a state of economic siege.

Seizing the polemic language of the welfare "reform"ers, Mink uses this same crude style in trying to oppose any type of reform. Was the welfare system in America not working too well? Yes. Was it in need of reform? Yes. Did the 1996 effort by Clinton and the Republicans help remove some of the problems? Yes. The welfare advocates do not recognize any of these facts. They simply point out the false stereotypes employed by the anti-welfare crowd and the problems of this law, which forces women to work rather than care for their kids. Mink, like many other self-styled feminists, does not care for the moral groundings of true feminism or of the original welfare legislation. Instead, she seems to advocate a libertine lifestyle wherein rights take precedence over responsibilities. This kind of polemical work only works when it falls back on statistics - the rest of the time it fails to make a convincing case against a terribly flawed "reform" policy that is simple to refute. Gary Bryner's "Politics and Public Morality" is a much better assessment of this legislation and much more highly recommended by this reader.