That was the conclusion of a recent Beltway libertarian report on trillions in welfare, since there are still plenty of poor people. But the war on poverty hasn't failed. It has done exactly what it was intended to do: enrich and empower the state and its interest groups. One of the problems of being a think-tankian is that you must accept the state's bona fides, or be fired. Only radical criticism, however, criticism that goes to the root, in other words, has a chance of delegitimizing these evil activities.
