That's Not What We Meant to Do

by Gillon, Steven M.

• ISBN13: 9780393048841
• ISBN10: 0393048845
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2000-05-01
• Publisher: W W Norton & Co Inc

Summary

A brilliant, often witty investigation of the chasm between good intentions and end results.What does the GI Bill of 1944 have in common with the rent-control legislation of the 1940s and 1950s? The Civil Rights Act of 1964 with the Reagan tax cuts of 1981? You might think these were sweeping legal reforms that greatly improved American society. Or perhaps you view them as stopgap measures intended to right some grave social injustice. What all these instances of reform share, however, whether sponsored by Democrats or Republicans, is wildly unforeseen consequences--occasionally positive, often regrettable. With a shrewd eye for historical absurdity, Steven M. Gillon takes us on a tour of this century's reforms and legal innovation--federal welfare policy, community mental health, immigration, and campaign finance reform, to name an additional few--and describes the unintended consequences of their enactment. The result is a brisk, instructive, and disturbing study that will be required reading for all students of government and society, and for anyone who wishes to avoid the perils that stalk any legislative body.

Author Biography

Steven M. Gillon is the Carol E. Young Professor and Dean of the Honors College at the University of Oklahoma. He hosts a weekly show on the History Channel called HistoryCenter

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	11	(6)
Introduction American Exceptionalism and the Promise of Unintended Consequences	17	(26)
The Irony of Reform: The Origins of Federal Welfare Policy, 1935	43	(44)
The Politics of Deinstitutionalization: The Community Mental Health Act of 1963	87	(33)
The Strange Career of Affirmative Action: The Civil Rights Act of 1964	120	(43)
Still the Golden Door?: The Immigration Act of 1965	163	(37)
The Politics of Campaign Finance Reform: The Federal Election Campaign Finance Reform Act of 1974	200	(35)
Conclusion A Few Final Observations	235	(6)
Endnotes	241	(32)
Index	273