Nurturance and safety nets

Democrats understand that we live in an interdependent society. Our freedom is enhanced when we have a diversified support network, a safety net, to control the risk we all face as we pursue opportunity. In return for this type of security, we have a responsibility to help others in need, and to refrain from abusing the privilege.

In our modern world the primary ingredients of the social safety net are education, savings, family, spirituality, friends, community, workplace, unions, and government. It’s a complex web, but the mastery of it is one thing we regard as a distinctive aspect of the American character. All of the components of the safety net are equally important. We should neither over-emphasize nor deprecate any of the components, but learn to develop all of them.

Public policy has a supporting role in several aspects of the safety net. Education is most important through much of life, because it gives us the flexibility to change careers and insulate ourselves from many changes in the economy. Education can also play a role in the acquisition of practical parenting skills, making the family a stronger source of nurturance.

The workplace is another important source of economic support, where public policy comes into play. Employers have a responsibility to provide a wage sufficient to allow each worker to build the savings and education aspects of their personal safety nets. The minimum wage ensures that this responsibility of the business sector isn’t eroded by competitive pressures.

As we age, certain components of the safety nets we’ve carefully built through life, start to disappear. This is why we have Social Security and Medicare. These systems represent a social contract between generations, where the most productive generations contribute to the security of those who built the society before. These programs are not a replacement for savings. They are assistance for those whose economic safety nets aren’t holding.

Health care is another aspect of the safety net. As a society we have already accepted the concept that everyone is entitled to health care, by accepting anyone in emergency rooms. However, this is the most expensive possible way of providing medical services, a huge expense for every level of government. Moreover, it is becoming increasingly difficult for employers to provide insurance in an age of job mobility and part-time work. The administrative burden is especially hard on small businesses. This is a place where special political courage is required, to overcome the huge entrenched interests in our currently dysfunctional health care system. We need to move to an employee-based health insurance system and ensure universal access to preventive care. Medical insurance is not a savings plan, it is a system for managing risk.

In contrast, there are aspects of the safety net where government involvement is unwelcome, even counter-productive. Spirituality is one. We don’t require that spiritual support come from institutional religion, because we know that people can develop their spirituality in many different ways, even from their own meditations. We want people to appreciate their connectedness to each other and the world around them, to develop a conscience, and are grateful for any way that this comes to pass. This connectedness is part of the foundation of social order.

In some ways, spirituality is an ultimate safety line, as long as it stays completely independent of government. Regardless of what happens to family, friends, and government policy, our spirituality and religious connections should still be there. The effectiveness of this safety line is compromised when religious organizations become dependent on government funding, or become tools of government policy. To tie spiritual authority to government power turns the spirit into a mere extension of the flesh, vulnerable to all the same weaknesses we see in government and the material world.

Political themes: Diversified safety net, reinforced by education and the minimum wage. Social security as old age safety net and inter-generational contract. Reform of the expensive, dysfunctional health insurance system. Religion must stay independent of government.