Yesterday was the 50th anniversary of President Lyndon Johnson’s State of the Union speech in which he declared a “War on Poverty.” There was, and continues to be, much discussion and debate over how well that effort has gone. Are we better off now than we were 50 years ago? The country is materially richer and vastly so. But the poor are undeniably still with us and, perhaps, more impoverished than ever. Though not necessarily in a material sense.
Yesterday, Governor Peter Shumlin of Vermont delivered his “State of the State” address and it was not, emphatically, typical of this sort of speech. It did not take the conventional, laundry list form with the governor citing the number of new classrooms built, miles of highway improved, meals on wheels programs funded and so forth. It was, essentially, a one-topic speech. On heroin.
