The myth of the last several decades is that bothsides wanted similar outcomes, but they just disagreed about the way to get there. Evil socialist communist liberals thought that big government was the answer, and hot sexy randian conservatives thought the private sector was the answer, but but both, ultimately, thought that the welfare of all human beings was important.
This was bullshit. The goals were not the same (I'll leave aside the issue of how much elite goals of both parties were, actually, the same). But it was the myth the press propped up for decades. Should federal money go to welfare queens, or to heroic capitalists in Jack Kemp's empowerment zones? The question was ridiculously framed as, "which would be better for the poor?" Instead of, "who should receive the welfare." That rich people should get all the welfare won. Heckuva job, opinion shapers.
