Gans calls himself an upper-middle-class liberal...most of his work has been about 'mainstream' America (i.e., white middle-strata)... he offers the following generalizations in his book _Middle American Individualism: Political Participation and Liberal Democracy_:
1) private enterprise must continue to bear major responsibility for people's economic security and needed jobs...gov't role is to encourage firms to increase productivity and direct 'fruits' into investments & taxes to bring about full employment...
2) gov't must insist on redistribution but must start with policies that will gain political support...pursue full employment and find politically feasible redistributionist tax reforms...
3) reduce the Pentagon budget...
4) design and administer welfare state programs so as to exclude practices that upset people...he refers to 'waste' and 'petty dishonesty'...
5) make gov't user friendly...he prefers direct monetary payments and vouchers instead of services per se...
6) redistribution must maintain material & nonmaterial gaps between classes so that middle-strata does not fear competion from 'lower' classes for prestige/resources...
Michael Hoover