Isaac Chotiner: Republicans Used to at Least Talk About Poverty. What Changed?

Isaac Chotiner is the executive editor of The Book at TNR.com.

...IT MAY SEEM like ancient history, but in 1995, the year Newt Gingrich became Speaker of the House, Louis Farrakhan held his Million Man March in Washington. Here was a radical black Muslim anti-Semite (Farrakhan, I mean, not Gingrich) leading a march in the nation’s capital without even bothering to sound “moderate” or conciliatory. And what was the response of the most powerful member of the nation’s conservative political party? On the night of the march, the Speaker had this to say: “I don't think that any white conservative anywhere in America ought to look at Louis Farrakhan and just condemn him, without asking yourself where were you when the children died, where were you when the schools failed, where were you when they had no hope, and unless we're prepared to roll up our sleeves and we are prepared to reach out and to say, 'I'll give you an alternative . . .'” It is easy to say that Gingrich and the then-regnant GOP never offered much assistance to poor Americans, black or white: the welfare bill that Gingrich wanted to pass, for example, was notorious for its lack of compassion (Clinton eventually signed a less harsh version of welfare reform). But Gingrich also seemed to be someone who had thought about issues of urban poverty, who had taken note of the less fortunate members of society, and who felt it valuable to act as if they had needs....

And today? Not only does the Republican Party preach huge cuts to social programs and tax cuts for the wealthy, but compassion is seen as nothing but part of “a radical secular agenda” (this is taken from Rick Perry’s book, Fed Up). Perry, who generally seems, well, skeptical about Darwin’s actual theories, seems to enjoy preaching what has come to be called Social Darwinism. His goal, he likes to say, is to make the federal government as inconsequential as possible. He has even managed to anger the former president by attacking compassionate conservatism. The Congressional wing of the party, meanwhile, is in thrall to the vision of Paul Ryan. Whereas Gingrich had GOPers read Olasky’s book, Ryan suggests, according to New York magazine, that his staff members read Ayn Rand, who was not known (and proudly so) for her warm heart....