How should the Left address the lower class and middle class that are frustrated with the benefit cliff problem?
I’m a conservative. From my perspective the main goal of the Left is to raise the minimum standard of living primarily with government redistribution programs.
This a noble goal and often the means of how to achieve the goal is highly debated, but what’s not talked about enough is the glaring problem with the goal itself. Which is the benefit cliff problem. If you’re primary focus is to raise the the minimum quality of life to a traditional middle class lifestyle then what’s the point of putting in the extra effort to raise yourself out of the lower class and into the middle lower class and even the middle class.
As the lower class benefits from government programs like SNAP, Medicaid, subsidies housing, child care subsidies, etc. in an attempt to raise the minimum quality of life it leads to the lower class having the same purchasing power of the lower middle class, and even the same purchasing power of the middle class in some instances. This has led to a lot of frustration among people who feel like they make too little money to buy anything, but they make too much to receive any government help.
I think it’s fair to say that the Left has primarily addressed working class republicans in the past by either making some racism allegations or saying they love billionaires/think they will become billionaires. Rarely if ever will the Left address the frustration that these people have for our welfare state in regard to the benefit cliff problem.
I don’t want this thread answers to turn into fixing the benefit cliff problem with less means test and a more robust welfare state. I’m not interested in hearing hypothetical utopian welfare solutions. I want to hear current thoughts on our current welfare, and more importantly I want to hear thoughts on the lower middle class and middle class frustrations on the current system and how the Left should handle those frustrations.
Edit: There’s been a lot of responses. Basically all of them are addressing solutions to the benefit cliff problem with universal government programs despite the fact that specifically said I don’t want to hear hypothetical utopian welfare solutions; I want to know how the left should address the people frustrated with the current state of the welfare state which no comments did. But I guess the Left can address the people frustrated by selling them hypothetical utopia welfare solutions. The problem I have with these universal programs being proposed deserves its own discussion, but I’m going to say it anyway. Progressive pushing these policies never do basic math. If we actually want Medicare for all then we should raise the 1.45% (2.9% combined) FICA tax the employees and employers currently pay to 16%(32% combined). If we implement a UBI and eliminated all of our current means tested welfare program including disability and fired a million plus government employees along with their agencies then maybe we could do a $400 UBI to every American, but thats only while maintaining a 2 trillion dollar deficit. If progressives actually made their policies with basic math in mind then we could have an honest discussion and I might even be in favor of their policies.