AUGUST 22

On this date in 1996, President William J. Clinton (D) signed into law a radical reform of our country's welfare system.  It is known as TANF  -  Temporary Assistance for Needy Families.  (Temporary is such an elusive word.)  TANF took in many more people.  It was supposed to encourage the poor to find work.  It did, but millions more people also learned to depend on the government.

A little background:

It was the second major addition since President Franklin D. Roosevelt (D) in 1935 signed into law the original welfare program called AFDC - Aid to Families with Dependent Children.

In 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson (D) gave us the Economic Opportunity Act as part of his War on Poverty.   This act included 11 new programs aimed at assisting the poor to find work.  In separate legislation, The Stamp Act of 1964 was passed - greatly increasing the number of people eligible.

The Coup de Grace of  our democracy and the new cornerstone of the welfare state was passed in 2010 by President Barack H. Obama (D), Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D) and Senate Leader Harry Reid (D).  It is the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

We now have quite enough people (voters) totally reliant on the federal government by the handiwork of Democrats - that Democrats should be assured a long reign in the White House.
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