America’s welfare system is not working. The War on Poverty has failed miserably , and few in Congress have even broached the topic of serious welfare reforms. Members of the House Freedom Caucus have led the way in the this Congress, but, aside from their efforts at real conservative reform, there is little traction for those seeking to make welfare sustainable. Luckily for Americans, Congress doesn’t control their fate, they do.

Paul Ryan (R-WI) and Robert Woodson, Founder and CEO of Center for Neighborhood Enterprise, have visited struggling communities throughout America recently and are promoting “A Better Way” program as a means to improve the lives of those mired in poverty.

Last Tuesday, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) unveiled a new anti-poverty initiative called ‘A Better Way to Fight Poverty’ at an outdoor press conference in Washington D.C.'s Anacostia neighborhood, which is plagued by high poverty rates and crime.

Being tasked with a response to the State of the Union address isn't easy. The message, usually given by a fresh face, is carefully crafted to fluff up a party's priorities for the coming months, as well as offer Americans a distinction between their agenda and what the president offered them earlier in the evening.

This month, pundits from across the political spectrum are noting the 50th year of Lyndon Johnson's declaration of war on poverty. Liberals cite the good intentions of the programs, while Conservatives rue the trillions wasted on this failure and the massive growth of the federal bureaucracy it spawned (as I wrote about last year), but rarely do we do any self-examination. What do we do about it? We can't just be about pointing out that the war on poverty has failed. We have to offer solutions. I participated in an intriguing discussion group this morning that posed this very challenge.

We all know that communism is evil, socialism is bad, big government reduces personal liberty and central planners can't plan their way out of a wet paper bag. But we don't often examine why.

In 1930, the unemployment rate among African Americans was lower than it was for whites. That's right, at the height of the Great Depression, blacks were more likely to be employed than whites. 1930 was also the last year that we saw that happen.

Perhaps the greatest strength of the Democratic party is its ability to present itself as empathetic, caring and compassionate while simultaneously pushing policies that hurt the very people they claim to represent. The fact that they continually get away with this bald-faced sleight of hand is a testament both to their rhetorical skill and the ineptness of the Republican opposition.

Whenever conservatives talk about lowering taxes, reducing entitlements, or rolling back our titanic government, the intellectual giants of the left deploy an incisive counter-argument: you're mean!But of course. Why, just a fortnight ago, I was strolling to the opera when a lowly chimney sweep spilled soot upon my spats. After making him polish my monocle, I thrashed the young ne’er-do-well roundly with my ivory-handled walking stick. Off to the poorhouse with you!