On the March 19 edition of “The Majority Report,” Sam Seder interviewed Mike Konczal on his recent essay for Democracy, The Voluntarism Fantasy.

In his essay, Konczal debunks the myth that voluntarism in civil society is sufficient to fulfill the needs of the poor and explains why the state is crucial in combating poverty. Threatened by the possibility of a permanent Democratic majority, conservatives are scrambling to dismantle the federal welfare state, but Konczal insists that the need for welfare is growing, not shrinking.

Listen to the whole interview here.