"Keep your government hands off my Medicare!" Such comments spotlight a
central question animating Suzanne Mettler's provocative and timely
book: why are many Americans unaware of government social benefits and
so hostile to them in principle, even though they receive them? The
Obama administration has been roundly criticized for its inability to
convey how much it has accomplished for ordinary citizens. Mettler
argues that this difficulty is not merely a failure of communication;
rather it is endemic to the formidable presence of the "submerged
state."
In recent decades, federal policymakers have increasingly shunned the
outright disbursing of benefits to individuals and families and favored
instead less visible and more indirect incentives and subsidies, from
tax breaks to payments for services to private companies. These
submerged policies, Mettler shows, obscure the role of government and
exaggerate that of the market. As a result, citizens are unaware not
only of the benefits they receive, but of the massive advantages given
to powerful interests, such as insurance companies and the financial
industry. Neither do they realize that the policies of the submerged
state shower their largest benefits on the most affluent Americans,
exacerbating inequality. Mettler analyzes three Obama reforms--student
aid, tax relief, and health care--to reveal the submerged state and its
consequences, demonstrating how structurally difficult it is to enact
policy reforms and even to obtain public recognition for achieving them.
She concludes with recommendations for reform to help make hidden
policies more visible and governance more comprehensible to all
Americans.
The sad truth is that many American citizens do not know how major
social programs work--or even whether they benefit from them. Suzanne
Mettler's important new book will bring government policies back to the
surface and encourage citizens to reclaim their voice in the political
process.
