however, many critics have found that the new system involves a different sort of amorality and even immorality in the way people are excluded.
Murray considers the question of welfare in the larger context of American social policy over a thirty-year period. He has more in mind than welfare policy, though welfare is at the heart of what American social policy during this era wanted to achieve and also at the heart of how the system has failed to achieve those goals. Murray settles on the term "social policy" to describe what he is talking about and defines this as a loosely defined conglomeration of government programs, laws, regulations, and court decisions touching on almost every dimension of life:
Welfare programs are part of any social policy toward the poor, obviously. Jobs programs are part of social policy. So also are the Miranda decision and Affirmative Action and the Department of Education's regulations about bilingual education (Murray 13).
Murray also gives a clear indication of the goal of these programs, noting that each has a worthy objective that is being addressed by a transfer of resources from the haves to the have-nots. This transfer of funds increased greatly during the period from 1950 to 1980, but even increased expenditures did not deliver the goals intended.
Ellwood finds essentially that the goals and the methods undertaken are the same as Murray indicates, but he considers the issue more in terms of the effect on the American family specifically. He also notes that everyone hates the welfare system as it has developed. Defenders of the system say it is misunderstood and that critics are simply being selfish, but Ellwood feels that many critics have valid complaints. He in fact cites Murray as one who would like to help the poor but who feels that reforms are needed. Ellwood finds the complaints to have a much more fundamental basis:
Welfare is a flawed method of helping pe...