The keys to fighting crime — and thus poverty — are to give kids access to a quality education, encourage mom and dad to get hitched and, especially, to protect the law abiding from criminals.

Many Democrats prefer nostrums designed more to enrich themselves than to help the poor.

Many inner-city schools stink because they’re run for the benefit of teachers and administrators. Votes and money from teacher unions matter more to a lot of Democrats than the lives of the children trapped in them.

If so much of it weren’t spent on those who administer 126 federal programs, what we spend each year to “fight poverty” would be enough to lift every poor family in America out of poverty. If more had jobs, the poor wouldn’t need “help” from so many well-paid bureaucrats. And people dependent on the dole are more likely to vote Democratic.

The root cause of black poverty is white racism, liberals say.

Legal segregation ended in 1964 and was never a factor in most of our troubled cities, which were in much better shape half a century ago. The unemployment rate for black men is three times higher than in 1954. Black immigrants have had little difficulty climbing the economic ladder.