The Battle of Verdun in 1916 was the longest single battle of World War One and was noted for its enormous casualties.

UC Berkeley student Jacob F. Grant makes an apt analogy to this battle to this country’s efforts in the “War on Poverty.”

Last week marked half a century since the then-leader of the free world squatted on Tom Fletcher’s porch in the heart of the “Big White Ghetto” and declared his War on Poverty. The 50 years that followed have seen the apparent initial success of Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society stall, with the poverty rate refusing to move more than a few percentage points in any direction since the end of the 1960s, stuck in a quagmire of huge sums of federal dollars, an endless parade of programs and reform and countless broken lives — the War on Poverty’s Verdun.

There are times and places to argue over the efficacy of the government programs launched in the name of ending poverty. But this isn’t it.

There exists the popular belief, not entirely unreasonable in its formation, that social conservatism is a political philosophy predicated solely on the fundamental opposition to gay marriage and abortion. But these two issues — magnified by their emotional draw, clearly demarcated divisions and the ease with which one side can win or lose in the courtroom, the legislature or the voting booth — are merely the most visible fronts of a wider culture war. Those on both sides of either issue can espouse rational, reasonable arguments for their ideas, underpinned by a bedrock of emotion, religion and morality. Make no mistake: One side is in the right, but both are convinced it is them, and neither will be persuaded by rational debate. No amount of carefully reasoned argument will convince someone that abortion isn’t, at its core, the ending of a human life, that it isn’t murder, plain and simple, or that denying the government sanction of “marriage” to gay couples isn’t blatant and baseless discrimination. But as contentious as these issues are to social conservatives and progressives — each side with banners arrayed and battle lines drawn — they are only flash points in the culture war.

…It is folly to think that every problem can be solved by sweeping legislation or grand pronouncements from the Rose Garden. Government cannot be the prescription for every ill, if for no other reason than that such an approach simply won’t work. No matter how large or small a role you believe the state should play in the daily lives of citizens, it is essential to understand the importance of building cultural institutions embedded in our society — families, churches, communities, schools, nonprofits and whatever else you may believe is necessary. We will never win the War on Poverty without a strong social order.