David Brooks, a one-time respected conservative pundit, must simply be mailing it in. Based solely on the first sentence of his column on the Harlem Miracle, his license is hereby suspended.
Sayeth Mr. Brooks:
The fight against poverty produces great programs but disappointing results.
Did Mr. Brooks forget that the proper measure of any program should be based primarily on the extent to which it achieves its stated goals? Thus, programs designed and implemented for the express purpose of reducing poverty should actually reduce poverty. The standard conservative belief is that the intentions behind a program matter very little when compared to the actual results. The liberal conceit is to invest greater weight in the goodhearted intent behind the panoply of failed social programs.
There is typically little that is "great" about any program that produces "disappointing results," except for those whom it affords the ability to flex their moral superiority.
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