Achieving the American Dream has been an aspiration of people of all economic classes since the founding of our republic.
Sadly, this is becoming more challenging for many of our citizens.
According to a study by Pew Research, a majority of American children born poor will never make it to the middle class. These children may have the ability, but all too often family circumstances hold them back from achieving all they are capable of.
A study by Stanford economist Raj Chetty found that lack of upward mobility was strongly correlated to family structure, revealing that the number of single parents in a community is the single biggest predictor of social mobility. More than 40 percent of single mothers live at or below the poverty line, compared to less than 10 percent of married mothers.
Recently, the Republican Study Committee released a budget proposal for 2023 that aims to promote stronger family bonds by reversing some government programs that discourage marriage.
Representative Jim Banks of Indiana, who chairs the RSC, said, “The root of many of nation’s greatest challenges is the rapid erosion of strong families.”
Banks stressed the need for Republicans to promote a pro-family agenda.
The RSC’s proposed budget eliminates “marriage penalties.” These are policies in the welfare system that many feel discourage marriage by promoting higher benefits to single people. While realizing that there are many single-parent families whose children go on to lead successful lives, any social scientist will agree that these families face a much more difficult road to achieving the American Dream. The proposal also includes provisions
The proposal also includes provisions that block government discrimination against faith-based groups, noting that that philanthropic giving to faith-based charities meet or exceed expenditures on SNAP (food stamps) and Temporary Assistance to Needy Families. Scripture tells us to support widows, orphans and the poor; faith-based groups often provide the helping hand and spiritual strength that lifts people out of poverty.
Senate Republicans have introduced The Family Security Act 2.0, which emphasizes work, doesn’t penalize marriage and advocates financial help for women in need prior to the birth of their child.
Unlike President Biden’s $1.9 trillion Economic “Rescue” Package passed in 2021, the Senate Republican bill includes a minimum earnings requirement. In other words, it proposes to help those who are trying to help themselves.
The GOP proposal reforms the earned income tax credit, gets rid of marriage penalties and promotes work by slowing “benefit cliffs” whereby households no longer qualify for assistance. Many people say they don’t want to work more hours for fear of losing their government benefits. While helping them financially, let’s help them achieve success through productive work!
The FSA is designed to be cost neutral, thus avoiding inflation-inducing excessive government spending. This would be done by reducing state and local tax deductions, which are simply a gift to high tax and spend states. Reforming the earned income tax credit and eliminating the head of household filing status would save additional money to fund FSA.
Family economic policy experts from the Niskanen Center conducted an analysis of this proposal and predicted it would reduce child poverty by 12.6 percent while also reducing marriage penalties.
The breakdown of the American family has rapidly escalated since the advent of the “Great Society” in the 1960s. While there are certainly factors beyond government incentives that have produced this tragic situation, America has to have an honest discussion as to the effectiveness (or lack thereof) of these programs.
The poverty rate has barely budged since 1965, despite the expenditure of over $17 trillion of taxpayer money. Shouldn’t we be open to alternative ideas to help those Americans in need?
While many Great Society programs have hurt the family structure and contributed to the social ills we see today, I’m sure that the intentions of its proponents were noble.
However, I won’t extend this courteous sentiment to others who advocated for the destruction of families. Besides calling for the elimination of private property, individualism, and a knowledge of history, Karl Marx called for the “abolition of the family” in his Communist Manifesto.
One has to wonder how our nation’s so-called intellects have been influenced by this sick ideology. Group think, the limitation of true free speech and “woke” ideology have become all too common on many of our college campuses.
America is a great nation that has offered hope and opportunity to hundreds of millions. We need to keep the American Dream alive for all our people. Isn’t it time to rethink how we address poverty, strengthening families, and creating upward mobility?
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