Francois Furstenberg argues that the “welfare state” (I hate that term, btw) was initiated out of self-defense by the wealthy of the Gilded Age. The extreme economic disparities of the late 19th century was causing widespread violence and threatened to tear the country apart. And these were people with living memory of the Civil War, so tearing the country apart had a reality to them.

The Gilded Age plutocrats who first acceded to a social welfare system and state regulations did not do so from the goodness of their hearts. They did so because the alternatives seemed so much more terrifying.

I don’t think that’s all there was to it, but it’s an interesting thing to consider.

Greg Sargent:

In recent weeks, there’s been some question as to how far Dems are willing to go in making the explosive charge that Republicans are deliberately trying to sabotage the economy in order to improve their chances of defeating President Obama in 2012.

On a conference call just now with reporters, Senator Chuck Schumer made the most aggressive case we’ve heard yet along these lines, leaving little doubt that Dems are locking in behind this message as the deficit talks hit crunch time and as the 2012 campaign looms.

This is good, but they should have started doing this many weeks, if not months, ago.