The Department of Social Services, which directs the operations of public assistance and service programs throughout Michigan, should be considered for sizable reductions. Indeed, as many critics of the modern welfare state have argued, an appropriate long term goal would be the abolition of all state-run public assistance programs, as these programs, through the codification of many perverse incentives, have led to a destructive cycle of dependency that has threatened to destroy many of our nation's cities--including many large urban areas in Michigan.[176]  The failed programs of political society must be replaced by a resurgence of the private intermediary institutions of civil society.  While this is clearly not a feasible course of action for the state to take in the next fiscal year, it is nonetheless the direction that it should be moving.  As a result, the programs below should be eliminated.