The debate today on a wide range of issues affecting the poor and disadvantaged is between those who have largely given up on the problem of the 'underclass' and whose policies amount to warehousing large segments of society in a state of perpetual dependency-and those who believe that people can be free from dependency through the liberation of individual initiative and self-improvement from the neighborhood up. The role of federal policy should be to encourage and facilitate these liberating forces, not to impede them. The strategy of empowerment, as spelled out in this collection of essays about social issues, aims to do that. Issues discussed include America's Homeless; Federal Housing Voucher Program; Social Security; Improving Education; The Drug War; Child Care; and Health Care.