Social policies reflect and challenge the traditional American values of liberty, equality, and democracy because liberty and equality are both things that have a little different meaning to each person or group of people, for example, a goal of social policy is to alleviate poverty, which for many people is a touchy subject. The majority of Americans do not trust that many of America’s poor are truly poor because of disabilities or unequal past opportunities, they believe that there are far too many able bodied people who are just refusing to work and expect a free handout. Some Americans believe that those who are living in poverty deserve to be helped no matter of their circumstance. These differences have led to many debates on how to help
