Since the 1960s and Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society, Washington has spent some $22 trillion on 80 programs attempting to uplift the bottom rungs of American society. We can argue over the details, but widespread failure is abundantly clear. Just visit Detroit, Newark, East St. Louis, and Gary, Indiana and vast stretches of Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, DC among countless other cities to observe the chronic poverty first hand. The reasons for the lack of progress are many, but let me suggest one impediment that has drawn scant attention: a clear-eyed scientific analysis of the problem is off-limits lest inquiry somehow “offend” powerful political interests. Imagine if modern medicine functioned this way -- doctors would be outlawed from explaining one’s illness by criticizing personal habits or hygiene.  A perfect illustration of this stifling recently occurred when Congressman Paul Ryan (R-WI) in a town hall meeting opined that inner-city...(Read Full Article)