How was the US going to come out of the Great Depression without the safety net? It wasn’t as cushy as it is now; they used work programs because the WASPs that ran the country were mortified at the idea of paying people not to work. If they couldn’t come up with a solution when 25% of the workforce was unemployed, they knew they’d face the same leftist radical unrest that had been seen in Europe in the 20s and 30s.
Most Americans don’t know that May Day has its roots in a radical bombing in Chicago in the 1880s; decades later you had the anarchist problems (Sacco & Vanzetti, for example). We developed a safety net to avoid the fate of Europe: communism or fascism. We were still a “moral” country at the time.
Sure was not because of FDR’s programs; WWII got us out of the Depression.
And no, the “safety net” was and is to institute socialism here, not prevent it, by increasing government control over what should be the purview of private religious-based charity. Re-read the 45 communist goals for the USA instead of trying to peddle socialist propaganda, please.