Locke and Load

...The paper was the work of the English philosopher of liberty John Locke...

...Even children caught begging outside of their parish would be sent to the nearest "working-school" and "soundly whipped...

...This was the intention of England's poor-relief laws, but by "an ignorance of their intention, or a neglect of their due execution," the welfare bureaucrats in Locke's day had converted the system into "maintenance of people in idleness, without at all examining into the lives, abilities, or industry of those who seek relief...

...In 1697, he presented a draft of a proposal to reform the country's system of poor relief...

...What was most striking was the originator of this paper...

...Children of those unwilling to perform such work, or in families where there were too many children for even working parents to support, would be sent to working-schools, to be educated and taught a useful trade...

...These citizens would receive wage supplements but were expected to work at least part-time to qualify for relief...

...The response to Locke's plan is equally familiar...

...No, not Newt Gingrich, or Tragedy of American Compassion author Marvin Olasky, or Heritage Foundation welfare guru Robert Rector...

...His fellow commissioners on the Board of Trade criticized Locke for being heartless and misidentifying the problem...

...Not the least of what Locke expected these children to study was religion...

...These proposals sound a lot like the kind of welfare reform that many congressional leaders, innovative governors, and conservative think tanks are advocating...

...He viewed religious instruction as crucial to the task of breaking the cycle of poverty so that the next generation would not engage in the irresponsible behavior of its parents...

...To address this serious problem, Locke sketched out a plan of work requirements, job training, public education, child placement, and other measures that make today's welfare reforms seem namby-pamby...

...Adult males caught begging without a license would be seized and confined in nearby prisons or work camps or on ships for three years, during which time they would be required to work, with the cost of their room and board deducted from their pay...

...John Hood is president of the John Locke Foundation, a public policy think tank in Raleigh, North Carolina, and the author of The Heroic Enterprise: Business and the Common Good (FreePress...

...The first step towards setting the poor to work . . . ought to be a restraint of their debauchery," the philosopher wrote...

...The true and proper relief of the poor," he stated, "consists in finding work for them, and taking care they do not live like drones upon the labor of others...

...They would be treated as permanent wards of the state and, if necessary, lodged in group homes to reduce the cost to the taxpayers...

...He called for strict enforcement of laws against drunkenness and begging...

...This group would receive no relief unless they first worked for it (nor could they satisfy work requirements by looking for a job or taking a class...

...Locke wasn't simply "blaming the victim," as critics would argue today...

...The multiplying of the poor, and the increase of the tax for their maintenance, is so general an observation and complaint that it cannot be doubted," Locke began...

...The third group consisted of "those who can do nothing at all towards their support...

...The writer criticized the system as bureaucratic, ineffective, often counterproductive, and excessively costly to taxpayers...

...They got their way, and Locke's reforms went untried...

...He faulted the country's system of poor relief for failing in its intended mission and favoring simple gifts of food and money over the harder task of transforming recipients into self-sufficient members of society...

...As modern-day reformers do, Locke separated the welfare caseload into categories based on recipients' willingness and ability to work...

...The second group of welfare recipients, which Locke estimated to be the largest, consisted of those adults and children able and willing to work but who were, for reasons such as physical or mental infirmity, incapable of fully supporting themselves...

...One group were "those who are able to maintain themselves by their own labor...

...He even recommended that children in extreme conditions of poverty and neglect be transferred to orphanages for their protection and nurturing, rather than left with irresponsible parents...

...And he argued strenuously that long-term poverty is not a product of insufficient economic growth and job creation, but the result of poor decisions and corrupted values...

...To them, the poor were unemployed because there was a shortage of jobs, not because the poor were unwilling to work or engaged in "debauchery...

...The growth of the poor must therefore have some other cause, and it can be nothing else but the relaxation of discipline, and corruption of manners, virtue and industry being as constant companions on the one side as vice and idleness are on the other...

...He proposed that all welfare funds to able-bodied recipients be conditioned on full-time work and responsible behavior...

...Locke, who lived from 1632 to 1704, spent part of his long career in public life as a commissioner on the London Board of Trade...

...Rebutting the presumption of many of his peers that England's increasing poverty was the result of wars and economic instability, Locke wrote that "if the causes of this evil be looked into, we humbly conceive it will be found to have proceeded neither from scarcity of provisions, nor from want of employment for the poor, since the goodness of God has blessed these times with plenty...

...Rather than impose punitive measures on these victims of social neglect, the commissioners favored higher government spending to create jobs...

...His critique sounds strikingly familiar in the context of today's welfare reform debate...

...Female "vagabonds" would get a warning but be similarly treated on their second offense...