With all that is good about Democracy, it still traps significant % of the citizens in poverty. Not all can handle freedom. There are those who are not competive in the market place - and they are left behind.

Over 50% of the world population lives in poverty - and even in US, 20% of the children go to bed hungry.

To have a comprehensive program to deal with poverty in Democracy, we need better government programs - to feed the hungry, to educate them with job skills, getting them a government sponsored job, and supplying them with a place to live.

Some of the Europian countries already have better programs than US. These are the success stories of Democracy we should follow.

Pushing for Democracy without these programs in place, is not enough for places like Africa. The good thing about Democracy is that people are in power, and the leader has to please the people. That alone will not feed the hungry - good government programs will - so we need Democracy with good comprehensive programs to deal with the poverty issue.

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Equality is the beginning of all knowledge ...

It's not democracy that traps people in poverty, it's capitalism. It's better than feudalism but not as civilized as socialism.

We don't have to be socialist. A common misconception created by the right and now accepted by the left, causing them to go more extreme, is that socialism and welfare state are the same. No. Socialism is purposively moving toward a command economy. A welfare state's purpose is to fill in the cracks left by capitalism in order to keep it running. One of the major influences to the concept of the welfare state was to prevent socialist revolutions. The trouble comes when the welfare state gets too big and ineffective as the one in the US has. And it's deeply troubling that many on the left would rather take us further into socialism than repair our off-focus welfare state programs. Ideally a welfare statist would prefer to leave as much to the private sector as possible. But the polarity of US politics has changed that.
But on the other hand, it makes me sick when the US tries to stick its nose into the affairs of other states. If a developing country wants to be socialist, that's the prerogative of its people. Socialism can impair economic growth but that's not our business. It can also help to build the strong state and a tradition of democratic thought in an unstable country and is most certainly way better than despotism.
I tend to think that the lack of charity that spreads in Western thought has more to do with the ability of its citizens to live in their own little worlds, hiding from the suffering of others. In contrast, others might feel so overwhelmed by the suffering of the less fortunate that they hide in their own little worlds. Charity does increase when there is a crisis or disaster in the public view. But the stuff that happens all the time- I think we've grown numb.
Part of the problem is that the left, in supporting their interest groups and in lack of ideas, has not been trying hard enough to reform the bad welfare system into one that is based on education, skill-training, lifting barriers (transportation, childcare, cost of schooling, etc.), and the learning of basic capitalistic skills and mentality. Thus the cons, whose real long-term motivation is to cut programs, have monopolized welfare reform. The left have spent more time defending the failing system than coming up with ideas to challenge those of the cons.
People living in a democracy do care about others and we can afford to. But we're always caught up in our own lives and we don't see the ways in which helping the poor helps us (more responsible and economically productive citizens, less crime, money that would be spent on loved ones with disabilities or in old age instead invested or spent into the economy). And it doesn't help that our inept welfare systems merely reinforce people's disrespect and lack of sympathy for the poor. In the meantime welfare is being reformed by people who want to see the rolls drop more than results. And what is the left doing? Defending policies that are taking us closer to socialism rather than fulfilling the real purpose of a welfare state.

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"Man lives in the sunlit world of that which he believes to be reality. But unseen by most is an underworld, a place that is just as real... but not as brightly lit... A DARK SIDE!"
-opening from Tales From the Darkside

It has been quite clear for a long time that the countries that do best are the ones that strike a balance between socialism and capitalism. A free market economy is good, but without government companies and moderate regulation of privite companies, there will be little success in helping the poor. Government is there to work for the people, giving privite companies some of this responsibility usual ends up in disaster.

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"The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself. " — John Stuart Mill

Can you recommend a book showing which countries are doing well - the ones that strike a balance between Democracy and Socialism?

I would be really grateful.

This topic has bothered me for a long time now - I am thinking of writing on it, and I cold use numbers to back up my generalizations.

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Equality is the beginning of all knowledge ...

How to fix our (US) welfare programs?

Which programs need fixing, and what would you do about them?

Do you know of a good book on the subject?

Thanks for your dedicated response on the subject - you too seem to have pondered over this issue. Are you an idealistic utopian?

Then what do you think of UN Millenium Project and the economist Jeffrey Sachs' ideas on helping the 3rd world?

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Equality is the beginning of all knowledge ...

It's important to get programs to fix what they're supposed to fix. For instance, the most scrutinized form of welfare is that given to poor single mothers for the purpose of raising their kids and providing them with better life chances. The unfortunate part is that the kids don't usually get better life chances. The idea of getting mothers to work helps to set an influence for the kids, but what about having an adult to watch the kids? Social Security on the other hand does exactly what it is supposed to, keep the elderly and the disabled off the streets, but its equity is questioned and the method of paying for it is running into some problems. These are two examples of where reform is needed.

Not off the top of my head. Check out text books about social stratification and basic economics. I think the understanding of the subject lies in the understanding of those subjects. Sociologists are heavily interested in welfare, but sometimes lack the economic understanding to make their ideas productive.

Somewhat. I think most of us are deep down. Primarily I just think we can do things better than we are. I often find that "realism" is quite pessimistic, oftentimes enough to deter one from any improvement. The dangerous thing about realism is that the proponents of it are blind to how ideology affects them. I'd rather be an idealist with a sense of practicality.

Do you have any links on the subjects? I'm a bit familiar with the Millenium Project, but not much. Overall I feel that the UNDP is probably the only competent branch of the UN left. The WTO is the one I'm not wild about because I think its rules are too static and don't meet the needs of every developing nation. I'm not familiar with Sachs.

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"Man lives in the sunlit world of that which he believes to be reality. But unseen by most is an underworld, a place that is just as real... but not as brightly lit... A DARK SIDE!"
-opening from Tales From the Darkside

http://www.unmillenniumproject.org/goals/index.htm

http://www.earthinstitute.columbia.edu/about/director/


Granted that the 8 goals are incomplete - one wish to add thousand things to the list, to help the needy everywhere, but it is a step in the right direction, no?

Kofi Annan didn't think we could secure funding from the industrial nations
to do more for now. Hopefully the next Secretary would continue where he left off, and do more.

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Does anyone know how successful Jeffrey Sachs' has been, in advising the 3rd world nations?

I pray he is successful - what a job he has !

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Equality is the beginning of all knowledge ...

Cons to Democracy is the ignored minority - in the US, the 20% hungry children that do not have a vote, and the homeless and the unemployed are minorities, so elected leaders will try to please the majority - who seems to care more about paying less taxes than helping these needy people.

Liberal Democrats are un-electable these days as you know...

What is the solution for the mentioned needy in America, then?

What is the solution for the ignored minority in a Democracy?

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Equality is the beginning of all knowledge ...

Ah, I actually read his article in Scientific American. I think he's on the right track. My only thing is that I think we should only offer development help and not force it on countries. I'm not sure where Sachs stands on that.

I think the solution to aiding those in need in democracy lies in trying to find a way to make it impossible to deny. People in democracies do not like to think of themselves as selfish. But we often rationalize that the poor are not really out there in large numbers and that those who are poor deserve to be and could magically stop being poor without any help if they just chose to. That's in our culture moreso than in any institution.
It doesn't help that most in the middle class feel that they are struggling themselves. Our social standards for the ownership of junk are amazing. People give when they think they can.
And that leads us to the problem of charities. Which charities are the right ones to give to? And how can we make charities more efficient and more well-focused when they are not in existence for profit, which is much easier to use for motivation than altruism.

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"Man lives in the sunlit world of that which he believes to be reality. But unseen by most is an underworld, a place that is just as real... but not as brightly lit... A DARK SIDE!"
-opening from Tales From the Darkside