War on Poverty Was a Failure

Why did Jesus tell us that we would always have poor people in society? Maybe because in this fallen world, there are always going to be people who find themselves in an unfortunate set of circumstances...and even more who make poor moral choices (drinking, gambling, poor work ethic, etc.) that have an effect on their economic well being.

Human Events features an excerpt from "Rebuilding America:"

From the moment the Great Society conceived of the War on Poverty, it was a bad idea to believe that we could eliminate poverty by allowing a government bureaucracy to distribute massive amounts of public money to the poor. In the antipoverty efforts of the last four decades, we have witnessed one of the largest income redistributions from the taxpayers to the poor that the world has ever seen. Still, we have not eliminated poverty. Why should we believe that continued or expanded, new, and "improved" government programs, spending more trillions of dollars, will ever achieve more?...

Perhaps President Reagan was right—if we do not reinforce family structures, we will never eliminate poverty. Maybe he was also right in arguing that government welfare programs actually destroy the family structures of those Americans remaining in poverty since the start of the Great Society. Reagan's vision was that no amount of dependence upon government bureaucracy could ever substitute for the fundamental values only a family can instill in a person.

You can keep handing a man a fish every day...or you can teach him to fish (how to make moral choices that are in his own self interest, instill a good work ethic, and then NOT MAKE IT EASY FOR HIM TO IGNORE ALL THIS).

Why does the Left insist on always falling back on the same old failed socialist ideas?