The point has to be to strengthen the voluntary sector as a whole. Second, Bush's generous words about the poor have to be tested against all of his proposals, not just this one. It's good that he said it. Now, by his works, and budgets, shall we know him. Millions of people are poor not because they are flawed or irresponsible but because of bad luck, discrimination, poor schools, dangerous neighborhoods and injustices created by the economy itself.
Compassion is a good word, but justice is a better word.
Bush's compassionate conservatism should be measured not by its intentions but by whether it leaves our country more just than it is today. No society can depend on saints, even government-supported saints, to do it all by themselves. E.J. Dionne is a Washington Post columnist and a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.