When Barack Obama with great fanfare signed the 2009 stimulus bill, he quietly gutted America’s most successful domestic policy achievement—the 1996 welfare reform. This revolutionary policy had freed millions of Americans from the shackles of dependency. There was no legitimate reason to undo what had succeeded, and the moral and economic costs will be huge. The facts are clear: welfare reform worked for America. And we urgently need to relearn why.

Government Is the Problem is the story of a broken welfare system that needed to be fixed, of a great leader named Ronald Reagan who said that it could be fixed, of doubters who said that it could not be fixed, and of the man—Robert B. Carleson—who fixed it. Carleson pioneered the true reform that reversed a growing dependence on the welfare state and moved America away from the ruinous path of income redistribution.

Much has been written about welfare reform over the years – a lot of it by people who had no involvement with the process. But in this book the real story of how welfare was fixed is told. Bob Carleson has left a fascinating memoir of the insights and ideas that motivated welfare reform; of the controversies and obstacles that threatened to derail it; and of the principles that must be followed to direct scarce public resources to the truly needy.

With the country in economic crisis, Americans are asking questions about government intervention in the economy, about individual responsibility, and about the future of our children’s freedom. What could be more poignant than a testimonial from the man who proved that government is, indeed, the problem?

Robert B. Carleson (1931–2006) was the principal architect of true welfare reform. In 1968, Carleson joined the administration of Governor Ronald Reagan as Chief Deputy Director of the California State Department of Public Works. He was the main author of Governor Reagan’s successful welfare-reform initiative. Then, as director of the California State Department of Social Welfare in the early 1970s, Carleson implemented the new reform.

For the first time since World War II, California’s welfare rolls began to decline. In 1973, Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare Casper Weinberger tasked Carleson with bringing welfare reform to the other states. For the first time since World War II, welfare rolls declined nationally.

In 1981, Carleson joined Reagan’s White House staff as Special Assistant to the President for Policy Development. In that role he served as a special advisor for federalism policy and was the Executive Secretary of the Cabinet Council on Human Resources. He was the author of the Reagan welfare reforms contained in the 1981 Budget Reconciliation Act and was instrumental in the design of the welfare reform signed into law by President Clinton in 1996.

In 1998, Carleson founded the American Civil Rights Union (ACRU) to promote the civil rights of all Americans. Through its legal and public advocacy, the ACRU defends a constitutional understanding of civil rights.

What They Are Saying:

“Bob Carleson was the guiding light and hand behind the historic 1996 Welfare Reform Act. We were all standing on the shoulders of the ‘quiet giant.’ And, oh, by the way, he had provided the same leadership to Governor Reagan on his historic California Welfare Reform Act in 1971. This book is an invaluable history of an invaluable contribution to American law and human dignity.”—Tony Blankley, author of American Grit: What It Will Take to Survive and Win in the 21st Century

“Without Bob Carleson, Ronald Reagan’s dream of welfare reform never would have become a reality. Bob was a man of unmatched tenacity and devotion to conservative ideals—and should be remembered as one of the most remarkable figures of our age.”—Kenneth Y. Tomlinson, former editor-in-chief, Reader’s Digest

“Welfare, both its destructive tendencies and the ways it can be made to help rather than hold people back, are two of the most challenging issues in politics. Bob Carleson was present—and instrumental—at the creation of welfare reform with Ronald Reagan, when the Gipper was governor. And he pioneered many of the reforms that culminated in the pathbreaking federal welfare reform of 1996—one of the most successful public policy changes in history.”—John Fund, Wall Street Journal

“Bob Carleson was one of this country’s finest public servants—ever. A welfare reform pioneer, he enabled then-governor Ronald Reagan to salvage California from bankruptcy—and help the desperately needy to boot. His ideas, incorporated into the hugely successful 1996 federal welfare law, were also critical in elevating Reagan into the Oval Office. Teddy Kennedy may have been the Lion of the Senate; Bob was a Lion for America.”—Allan H. Ryskind, former editor and owner of Human Events

“Bob is considered by many to be the man who had the most to do with Ronald Reagan’s journey from the governorship of California to the Oval Office. As we worked together in the ‘Reagan Revolution,’ it became clear to me that Bob Carleson was no mere number-cruncher or policy wonk. . . . Carleson cared so much about the poor that he devoted the majority of his adult life to trying to reform the failed programs that were creating generational poverty and cycles of dependency. . . . And in the process he remembered that every dollar that went to help the truly needy came out of the pockets of America’s taxpayers.”—Gary Bauer in The Weekly Standard

Thomas Paine is rightly referred to as the “forgotten” Founder. We remember Washington, Jefferson, and Adams, but too often overlook the first person to write the momentous words “the United States of America.” With his first two books, Common Sense and The American Crisis, Paine helped a majority of American colonists to think of themselves, for the first time, as citizens of a new nation, the United States of America. And it was Paine who, through the power of the pen, encouraged the colonists to declare their independence; to fight for their freedom and ultimately win the Revolutionary War.

The title of this new and timely work, These Are the Times That Try Men’s Souls, edited by John Armor, is arguably the most powerful single sentence Paine ever wrote. Without the first victory won by General Washington’s troops at Trenton, the day after Christmas in 1776, the cause of America would have been lost. To inspire his troops, General Washington had Chapter I of Paine’s latest work read to his troops just before they set out in a snow storm to cross the Delaware at night to launch their attack on Trenton—an historic victory that changed the entire outcome of America’s struggle for Independence.

Thomas Paine’s words have not lost their power with the passage of over two centuries. Paine’s writing about dictators who were called kings is just as applicable today, although his “kings” are now replaced by presidents, generals, and prime ministers. These Are the Times that Try Men’s Souls eloquently connects the life and times of Thomas Paine with the modern crises facing America. We, the American people, once again face threats to our freedom and liberty; political and economic events that threaten the very existence of the United States. These are the times that try men’s souls.

John Armor is a graduate of Yale University and the University of Maryland Law School. He is a former Adjunct Professor of Political Science, and practiced in the US Supreme Court for 33 years. This is his eighth book.

What They Are Saying:

“In These Are the Times That Try Men’s Souls John Armor demonstrates how Thomas Paine’s writing helped create the spirit of America at the Founding of the Country, and how these words are equally applicable to the challenges facing us today. This is a valuable historical and literary resource for the reader who wants to explore the enduring character of our nation.”—Edwin Meese, III, former United States Attorney General

“At once both timeless and topical, the words of Thomas Paine that were so influential in the 18th century have been restored for the 21st century by the remarkable editing of John Armor. A new generation of American patriots—Tea Partiers, among many other ordinary citizens—will learn that their contemporary cause aspires to the same ideal as Paine’s: freedom. This book will become a classic in the literature of liberty.”—Colin A. Hanna, President, Let Freedom Ring

“John Armor has compiled a lucid, indispensable guide to the freewheeling and historically significant thoughts of one of America’s most intellectually provocative Founders. This is a must read book and an invaluable addition to any American heritage library.”—Ken Blackwell, former Ohio Secretary of State

“The author and sponsors of this elegantly constructed volume of Paine’s writings have reminded us that the ‘American Crisis’ of his day is also the burning question that confronts our own generation: how can Americans come together to defeat the clear and present dangers to our liberty?  May Tom Paine’s call to arms resound in the ears of citizen-patriots across the land.”—T. Kenneth Cribb, Jr., President, Intercollegiate Studies Institute