The left’s compassion has inflicted a terrible price on America’s poor. In 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson declared an “unconditional war on poverty.” He said that it “will not be a short or easy struggle” but that “the richest nation on Earth can afford to win it.” He was right. It wouldn’t be a short or easy struggle. Johnson and Congress created a host of federal programs including the Job Corps, Head Start and the Office of Economic Opportunity. The “Great Society” also included Medicare and Medicaid. In 1965, Johnson signed a housing bill that featured rent subsidies . The effort has grown from there. In 2022, the Cato Institute reported , “the federal government funds more than 100 separate anti-poverty programs.” But Johnson was wrong about two things. First, the United States couldn’t afford it. Government, at the federal, state and local levels, has spent more than $30 trillion fighting poverty. For context, the national debt is more than $39 trillion .…