Steve Posted February 27, 2008 Report Share Posted February 27, 2008 Former NY politician Moynihan had put out a report in the '60s saying the war on poverty had to be about getting black men working. Moynihan found data at the Labor Department that showed that even as fewer people were unemployed, more people were joining the welfare rolls â?? these recipients were families with children, but only one parent (almost invariably the mother). The laws at that time permitted such families to receive welfare payments in certain parts of the United States. Moynihan's report [1] was seen by people on the left as "blaming the victim",[2] a slogan coined by William Ryan.[3] He was also seen as propagating the views of racists,[4] because much of the press coverage of his reports focused on the discussion of children being born out of wedlock. Despite Moynihan's warnings, the Aid to Families with Dependent Children program had the "Man out of the house rule." Critics said that the nation was paying poor women to throw their husbands out of the house. AFDC and other aids go to the mothers and in government projects, they are not allowed to have an 'able bodied, adult male' there. There was a saying when I was growing up about kids in the projects is that they had a mama but the government was their daddy. There are a lot of scholors that said this type of program increased unwed pregnancy as well as disenfranchised these families as the man/father was not only unncecesasry but was a pariah to a certain extent as his presence at the home could help deny them government benefits. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted February 27, 2008 Report Share Posted February 27, 2008 Daniel Patrick Moynihan ... I liked him. He was a very sensible man for a politician, maybe because he was a Fulbright Scholar and a PhD. A real rags to riches story - bit of a chameleon though, supporting whichever party was in power. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted February 27, 2008 Report Share Posted February 27, 2008 p.s. I remember that back when I was around 8 or 9, my great grandmother had a neighbour in El Monte, California who got pregnant just about every year. Her husband would "vanish" before the child's birth so that she could get the kid paid for and support payments too. She was a white woman, Irish family name. I was always told not to play with her kids. At the time everyone thought it was scandalous! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torneyboy Posted February 27, 2008 Report Share Posted February 27, 2008 You were lucky then.. :thumbup: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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