Commentary
There are two very different ways to help the poor. One is beloved of the left, but doesn’t work. The other is favored by the right and is effective alright, but it’s rarely defended on this ground. Let me explain.
The left liberals want to help the poverty-stricken directly. They want to throw money at them; for example, through the welfare program, or food stamps, or Social Security, etc., or by setting up programs presumed to help them such as public education or meals at school for children, or homecare for the elderly and the disabled.
The conservatives, in contrast, advocate policies that will indeed help the poor, but all too often even they don’t see these plans in that regard. Which policies? Free markets, private property rights, profit-seeking. They’re rarely advocated on the basis of reducing poverty, but that’s exactly what they do….