Recently, I was reading a book which compared the political appeal of the post-New Deal welfare state to the appeal of the protective tariffs of the Gilded Age. Essentially, both provided a lot of government jobs and provided a lot of popularity to the party which supported it (until, of course, they didn't)
Now, I thought the major flaw with this comparison (other than the revenue versus spending bit) was that government jobs in the welfare state were not partisan. Most positions, after all, weren't appointed, but moved up through the ranks as with normal civil service jobs.
This got me to thinking- what if there was a welfare state type apparatus brought into the United States back when the spoils-system was alive and kicking? Its not too far fetched, as the US had seen the Freedmen's Bureau, attempts at federal education funding and guidelines and other countries like Prussia had health insurance and unemployment insurance programs in the era.
So, what if their had arisen a Gilded Age welfare state? What would it look like? And how could one get to such a thing? (I'm considering the idea for a TL)