Not in my neighborhood ! Everyone seems to be echoing the same sentiment it’s a good idea but not in my neighborhood. Well if the concept does not fit in your neighborhood what makes you think it fits in another neighborhood? Why would you naturally assume that the idea fits anywhere? Perhaps it’s time to question the idea?
The Tragedy of American Compassion
The compassion Americans demonstrate for the less fortunate deserves a great deal of respect. There is a widespread popular belief that because we are so successful individually and as a nation we owe something to the less fortunate. Hopefully words that appear to be critical of that belief will never dampen that commitment; however, it is important to note that some folks have distinctively different approach to the problem.
Any reasonable thinking person who has had a close association with the so called needy and “homeless” in this country could not help but notice how our corrupt welfare system dampens their initiative, destroys self image and creates dependency which leads to frustration, drugs and crime.
Our American style of compassion destroys the concept of marriage and family; our misguided compassion has created generation after generation of dependent, delinquents in our slum communities.
Unfortunately we appear to be making the same mistakes with the less fortunate here in southwest Florida that we made in other cities across the country. Are we in the early stages of corrupting honest, hard working family-orientated people by teaching them that dependency is an honest and noble life style here in America?
Teaching them they are not welfare recipients; but “clients of entitlement programs”.
I see us creating a campus where the less fortunate can learn the ways of the American entitlement system. I see us corrupting strong family values to create more clients for an entitlement bureaucracy.
Build it and they will come
Americans spent $190 billion dollars per year to ”fight the war on poverty” in this country; yet, if you take the total number of people living below the poverty level and write each one of them a check to bring them out of poverty it would cost only about $80 billion dollars. That should tell us we are spending $110 billion dollars each year to support an entitlement bureaucracy to deliver these services.
Social service agencies advertise their services and create campuses to make it easier to reach potential clients, this should tell us there must be a shortage of folks truly in need.
We must do something about the homeless problem! In my view, there is no such thing as “homeless”. This is a politically correct word invented by the news media, which incidentally, is in the business of selling sympathy.
The term “homeless” appears to cover three distinct groups of people and by lumping them all together; we can avoid our real responsibility of dealing with the more specific needs of each group.
The first category is the mentally ill and to lump these folks with the other two categories does them a great disservice. We housed the mentally ill for many years in palatial hospital settings thinking that some how the setting would rub off. We found this to be unsuccessful and the opulence eventually turned to neglect and ultimately abuse. The next approach was to simply turn them out on the street under supervision from the mental health bureaucracy. Now we find this did not work, so we have a responsibly to face this problem squarely, not simply hide it under a politically correct blanket of “homeless”.
The second category of homeless are those addicted to drugs and alcohol. We should have less sympathy for these folks because they can change their behavior and facilities are available to assist them. When we feed or offer assistance to these people, it simply means they now can use what money they do have to buy more drugs and alcohol.
The third category of homeless we once call vagrants and bums; those who choose to live the uncommitted life style immortalized by Roger Miller in “King of the Road” where “2hrs of pushin broom buys an 8x12 4 bit room”; but today the room is an “entitlement” so we dare not ask for the two hrs of pushin broom. Question is, has our politically correct compassionate approach simply encouraged or enabled a greater number of individuals to choose this lifestyle and refuse to work or face the real responsibilities of life? For these, We should have no sympathy; even the bible says “he who will not work shall not eat”. When we feed, house and aid vagrants we sanction their lifestyle and afford them the opportunity to spend what money they have on drugs and alcohol.
Are there legitimate folks who fall through the cracks and occasionally need some assistance? Yes, of course there are and there are plenty of private charitable organizations ready to help them.
We do not know all the answers, but we should know what has not worked. There is no question that our American style of compassion over the last forty years has not worked. It has simply led us to an ever increasing number of delinquent, dependent Americans.
What we need to do to be of real assistance to these less fortunate, is to single them out; get personally involved one on one and offer the specific help needed in each individual case. Don’t feed them, but show them where the jobs are so they can earn money and buy their own food. There is no need to find a job when your belly is full.
Confront the young mother that chose to have a baby without a father to provide a successful home environment to raise that child. Show her the best option for her child’s future and for her future is to put the baby up for adoption where it will have a chance to grow in a family environment. The reason we have starving children in this country is not because of a lack or food or money; it’s because many children have bad mothers.
The reason we have so many families without fathers is because we make it too easy for the father to avoid his responsibilities and we offer a financial incentive for the father to leave the home. How many of these fathers are we feeding in soup kitchens or aiding at social services campuses across the country?
“The Tragedy of American Compassion” written by Marvin Olansky is a great resource piece for those truly looking to help the less fortunate in this country.