My friend Rich Lowry at National Review has a fun column today on a Democratic filibuster of a welfare-reform bill. Those who deny the success of the mid-1990s reforms, he says, are akin to Flat-Earthers. Here?s a playful but insight paragraph:
As an official at the Center for Law and Social Policy said, “One of the great mysteries of social policy in the last few years is why welfare caseloads have stayed essentially flat or declined in much of the country, despite the economic downturn.” If we apply Occam’s razor to this “mystery,” the explanation is that single moms are perfectly capable of caring for themselves and their children, if that’s what is expected of them. Young minority women aren’t as helpless as their liberal advocates would have us believe. Mystery solved!
It may seem like a cliche to argue that welfare statism is an insult wrapped in ?compassion,? but that doesn?t make it untrue.
