The ruling class has used social welfare as a means to keep their dispossessed subjects complacent since forever. The poor laws dampened the effects of the massive land theft of the enclosure acts and destruction of the guilds. Otto Von Bismarck instituted universal health insurance in Germany to keep socialists and other malcontents from reaching critical mass and overthrowing him. In the US the first federal welfare programs were implemented on reservations, starting as far back as 1824 with the first federal health services for Indian tribes (IHS) carried out by the war department and recieved funding in 1832 and gradually expanded beyond vaccines from the mid 19th century onwards. Put into historical context the social welfare/bandaid programs of the DNC are neither new nor radical. They are small bribes paid by the ruling class to keep the proles complacent.
Originally posted on Quora July 10, 2023