The Amount of Control of the Government

By Ty W.

These are hard times! It is the era of FDR and the Great Depression. Unemployment rates are high, jobs have been lost, and people need money to take care of their families. Should the government step in and help or should the government leave its citizens to help themselves? The government  should have enough control over the citizens to help with unemployment and poverty.

FDR developed the Works Progress Administration to provide direct support for the unemployed and their families. By employing workers, the program helped poor families so they could provide food and clothing and education for their kids and themselves.

Franklin D. Roosevelt also created the Social Security Act to provide for retirees in their old age and people with disabilities. FDR gave a speech saying, “We can never insure 100 percent of the population against 100 percent of the ups and downs of life but we have tried to pass the law which will give some protection to the average citizen and to his family against the loss of a job and and against poverty ridden old age” (Doc A). People with disabilities also need Social Security and the government. Without Social Security, people who have retired wouldn’t be able to support themselves. For example, my mom needs Social Security to support my family. One bad thing about Social Security was that it excluded poor African Americans, sharecroppers, cash tenants, and domestic servants who lost jobs because of discrimination (Doc B).

The government should have enough control over the citizens to help with unemployment and poverty. Someone could argue that the government should have less power because it put Japanese Americans in internment camps during WWII. This was wrong because the Japanese Americans had caused no trouble for the US government. In conclusion then, the US government should have enough power to help those who need it, but not so much power to mess with citizens who have done nothing wrong.