American Dream

A <i>New York Times</i> reporter chronicles the post-Clinton welfare landscape.

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


Nothing marked Bill Clinton as a new kind of Democrat more than his campaign
pledge to “end welfare as we know it.” Both blunt and
vague, the promise resonated with a view that the social safety net had become a web that ensnared
the underclass, particularly African Americans, in a gloomy pathology of dependency. Too many
of the poor, Clinton said, couldn’t even dream the American Dream.

American Dream is the melancholy title Jason DeParle of the New York Times
chose for his richly researched, beautifully written chronicle of the era that fulfilled Clinton’s
pledge. Political abstractions are juxtaposed against the personal dramas of three emblematic
unwed mothers. By the book’s end, the women have 10 children between them, and one, at age 35,
is already a grandmother. At first glance, Angie, Jewell, and Opal seem to justify all the criticisms
of the welfare system: Each new birth ensures a larger welfare check; they move from Chicago to Milwaukee
for higher benefits and cheaper rent; they take jobs without telling the welfare office. Fathers
tend to be out of the picture—two are in prison for murder.

But DeParle’s intimate reporting reveals that welfare dependence
was a symptom, not a cause, of the chaotic happenstance of their lives. On a wrenching day when Angie,
in the stirrups preparing to end an unwanted pregnancy, abruptly halts the procedure, it is clear
that the prospect of a larger check is the last thing on her mind. These women are survi- vors, scuffling
by. When Washington moves to reform welfare, they shrug it off: They’ll manage. Two do so,
marginally improving their lots. The third, with no net to catch her, finds a bleaker fate.

Welfare reform is recalled as a triumph for Clinton, whose policy benefited
from a robust economy. DeParle’s judgment: The root cause of troubles in the African American
underclass was never welfare. But nobody has figured out how to legislate fatherhood.

WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

payment methods

WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate