ABSTRACT
In many industrialized countries, policymakers are struggling to contain the growth of social welfare policy; some are even trying to reduce its size out of concern for economic vitality. Liberalism is capable of sustaining more robust policies in support of the poor, but the dominance of conservative values prevents policymakers from exploring this potential. A sharp-eyed English observer has produced one of the better-known arguments in favor of a cultural explanation for American exceptionalism in social welfare policy. Left to itself, D. C. Washington was developing social welfare policies that reflected the collectivist values of the moralist culture, not the individualist values of liberalism. The existence of moralist, individualist, and traditionalist subcultures casts strong doubt on Louis Hartz's characterization of the pervasive hold of liberalism in America. American exceptionalism is the product of a federal system of decision-making.
