EJ DIONNE: In Defense Of Success

Government Really Can Lessen Poverty

By E. J. Dionne Jr.

Tuesday, July 19, 2005; Page A21

The problem with liberals, conservatives often say, is that they are too committed to old programs. This is an odd criticism coming from conservatives who regularly hail the low-tax, small-government policies of Calvin Coolidge as a model for good government. If wanting to bring back the 1920s isn't backward-looking, what is?