Is the idea of the social safety net imperiled as economic realities change?
The corrosive effects of protracted poverty—even when you’re working as hard as you can work—have a very negative effect on a society. Most people recognize that community support, through welfare and childcare, has now been eroded. But people are looking for new ways to create community. People are searching for ways to recreate it. The social safety net may be imperiled, but it is imperiled in its own form. And that is one reason people don’t vote. The lack of interest in voting among low-income people reflects that our political and economic system is not meeting their needs. People want to be part of a community; they are willing to do more than their fair share if they see that it is building something that works. But they need to see that their efforts are going to take them somewhere. How might elected leaders be forced to care about the unemployed and working poor, who vote at much lower rates than other Americans, since they aren’t beholden to them? The impact of people workin
