Book Review- "That's Not What We Meant To Do"
             Steven M. Gillon's book titled "That's Not What We Meant To Do" is a brilliant investigation of the gap between good intentions and end results. One might think of events such as The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Reagan tax cuts of 1981 as broad legal reforms that greatly improved American society or even as substitute measures intended to right some serious social injustices. What Steven M. Gillon stresses, however, whether these events were sponsored by Democrats or Republicans, is that they bring about unforeseen consequences that are occasionally positive but often regrettable. Steven M. Gillon guides the reader through some of the twentieth century's reforms and legal innovations such as the federal welfare policy, community mental health, immigration, and campaign finance reform and discusses the unintended consequences of their ratification.
             A major event of the twentieth century and the consequences thereafter that Gillon discusses is the Federal Welfare policy of 1935. The origin of this program was for Congress to approve a national program to aid mothers with dependant children. In 1908, the network that started the trend for this financial reform included many women who were determined to revolutionize the harsh conditions of urban life. Not only did this group of women raise the public awareness of this issue, but they also lobbied state legislatures for passage of mothers' aid laws. By 1935, every state except Georgia and South Carolina had mothers' pension programs. In 1934, the Children's Bureau estimated that about 109,000 families were receiving aid. Although there were this many mothers receiving aid, there were certain requirements that a woman was judged on to be qualified for this support, such as her moral and physical fitness to maintain the home. As time went on, more...