PM Carpenter: Conservatism’s favorite fallacy

In the context of weighing racial and class-based factors in the federal government’s woeful response to Katrina, the Washington Post related this succinct portrayal of the president’s political philosophy with respect to combating poverty:

“In the place of traditional poverty programs, Bush has touted faith-based social service programs, calling them more efficient and effective than those run by the government. Many programs of an earlier generation, he says, have served only to perpetuate the plight of the poor.”

Forty years of relentless right-wing campaigning on the fallacy that government programs “have served only to perpetuate the plight of the poor” has convinced a majority of Americans of the fallacy’s truth. But it has taken root among the electorate only because most Americans don’t examine the assertion’s basis any more than our intellectually lazy president has. It is received knowledge, not informed opinion.