Right Wisdom

I know George Gilder as a likable chap, prey to surges of emotion that last long enough to translate themselves into entire books. In the wake of the 1964 Goldwater debacle, Gilder, then in his Ripon Society phase, wrote with Bruce Chapman The Party that Lost its Head, advancing an argument that Republicans for the sake of self-preservation should accept the welfare state and administer it with more efficiency but just as much compassion as chuckle-headed Democrats.

By 1978, Gilder had seen a different light. Visible Man, his revelation of that year, insisted that welfare was destroying the morale of black men. Young males, the story went, prefer grabbing the welfare checks from the women they prey upon to gettin...