U.S. Senator Walter Mondale speaks to a group of social service providers, urging them to become involved in politics. He talks about the current feeling in Washington and from the public that it's okay to cut and dismantle social services. Mondale states he doesn't agree, saying in many areas of social problems you need social services delivery systems.
SPEAKER: There's a new and I think pernicious growing feeling in this country. That those involved in the social services field are basically lazy rip-offs. And I'd like to quote from a famous American, once the second or third strongest man in American life. Chairman of the domestic council and also although we didn't know it, "General of the Plumbers," Mr. Ehrlichman. He said this before the last election.
"There seems to be a folk tradition around this town that is somehow indecent to cut social services." I don't think the second administration will be a believer in that folk tale. I think a president with a substantial mandate, who feels the majority of the people behind him will feel very comfortable in saying to a vested group, such as say social workers.
Look, your social programs of the '60s aren't working and we're going to dismantle it. So you'll just have to go out and find honest labor somewhere else.
Now, I'm convinced that's the policy that permeates and has permeated social policy in this country. The notion that if you try to deliver services, it is inherently wasteful, incompetent, patronizing, and destructive. I don't believe that. I think in many areas of social problems, you must have social services delivery systems.
And I think you believe it and you know it and you know the people who depend upon you. It isn't a matter of statistics to you. You know the people whose lives will be affected disastrously, if you can't continue to assist them and help them in the way you are now.
And you know how much more is needed if these people are to have a chance or to have a decent life. You know that. And what appalls me is the absence of communication between the professionals in this field and other fields such as education and health and the general public. Because the general public is becoming increasingly convinced that it's basically waste.
And in this country, and I'm glad it's the case, we are moved by what people believe. And I think we need more democracy, not less, and we need more involvement by those of you involved in this field in the allied fields of human development and assistance than we have today.
And far too many of you think, politics is wrong, it's rotten, it's unfair. And because you do, you stay out of it. And those who don't feel that way, dominate the field.
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