From Godless Government to the Faith-Based State: The Failure of Compassionate Conservatism

Political scientists have approached the administration of George W. Bush from the perspectives of his foreign policy, tax plan, and entitlement reform proposals. One overlooked facet of Bush’s presidency was his commitment to overhauling the social welfare system. This commitment provided the basis for his first campaign speech in 1999, “The Duty of Hope,” as well as his first and second executive orders as president. President Bush’s rhetoric and executive orders promoted a policy termed “faith-based initiatives” which involved administering federal welfare monies through local faithbased organizations for the purpose of increasing the effectiveness and efficiency of the welfare state. This paper assesses the importance of ideas in President Bush’s proposal, specifically neoliberalism and neopuritanism. This paper seeks to explain why contradictory frames were arranged and how these frames limited the success of the policy proposals thus generated.