Means Testing: Sanders vs. Warren on the Single Most Important Policy Idea for Progressive Success

Such an excellent, well articulated, and illuminating piece by Robert McChesney, an author and professor who I have long highly respected. Deep bow of gratitude to all who empower us to understand the many layers of larger pictures and discern Important differences on critically important issues. These are the facts that are among the countless antidotes to the forces of ignorance and the epidemic of polarization, propaganda, and disempowerment that plague our country. — Molly

Basing eligibility on wealth or income level is phony progressivism and a crucial tactic promoted by the right to eliminate social welfare programs that could benefit the entire population and the common good.

By

Robert McChesney

Bernie Sanders’s policy proposals ranging from Medicare For All and abolishing student and medical debt to free college tuition and even the right to vote are presented as universal rights and programs. They are provided to everyone with no exceptions. The record shows that this is the basis of viable social programs in a democracy. It is the reason the two most popular and successful federal government programs in the United States—Social Security and Medicare—have been impossible for the right to defeat, even though they have been trying to do so since the moment those programs were created in the 1930s and 1960s respectively.
It is standard procedure for most Democratic candidates to support Bernie style social programs in theory—or at least some of them—but then to insert the caveat that “of course, rich people or even people above the poverty line should not get them for free because they can afford to pay for them out of their own pockets.” It sounds very fair and progressive, a blow against crony capitalism and directing government money to the undeserving rich. It is a staple line regarding the student debt plan of Elizabeth Warren, for example, and is roundly approved by the punditocracy. It is the mark of a “serious” candidate. It is called “means testing.”
But means testing is a phony progressivism and a crucial tactic promoted by the right to eliminate social welfare programs that could benefit the population. We can understand why corporate Democrats like Biden or Buttigieg or Harris advocate means testing; the corporate wing of the Democratic Party warmed to means testing in the 1980s and it began to be embraced as a legitimate device in both the Clinton and Obama administrations. It is now a common approach for that crowd.
So when someone as ostensibly progressive as Warren does the same it demonstrates just how pervasive right-wing ideology has been internalized in our politics.
Why do I call this a right-wing idea? Because as soon as means-testing is accepted on principle and introduced for a program, it begs the logical question of why not extend it to other similar social programs? So if means testing free public college tuition is such a great idea, then why not have well-to-do parents pay tuition for their children in public high schools and middle schools and elementary schools?  Why not bill only the rich when they drive on any public roads or use public libraries or parks or restrooms? Why not charge them for using the police or fire departments? Where exactly do you draw the line? That is a slippery slope toward privatization and elimination of government functions.
Why is that the case? Because when programs are universal it is much harder for the enemies of those programs to attack them as welfare giveaways to the poor, and an unfair burden on those who are more successful. Note that it is almost always the wealthy and privileged and very rarely the poor or working-class that drive the push for means testing. That alone should demonstrate how phony this is as a progressive issue.
The introduction of means testing creates a layer of bureaucracy to monitor who is eligible and ineligible for the social program. It produces a completely useless and unnecessary bureaucracy to eliminate fraud. It drives up the costs of the program and people become infuriated having to fill out forms and prove they are eligible. It is as pleasurable as dealing with a health insurance company or getting a root canal worked on by your dentist. This too plays directly into the hands of those who wish to establish that progressive government programs are inherently flawed, inefficient and incapable of being successful. Better to privatize and turn everything over to profit-seeking corporations in the marketplace.
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