Last week, Philidelphia’s Democratic Mayor Michael Nutter announced an eminent ban on feeding homeless people outdoors. This move has been met with resistence by some charities in the city of brotherly love. Conveniently, there is a new art museum being built near a traditional location where charities feed the homeless and there is speculation that Mayor Nutter does not want the homeless cluttering up this new location.
While I can sympathize with a desire to have a city with less homeless people, the answer is not to simply hide the homeless from sight, but rather to find ways in which to get the homeless off of the streets and into more prosperous scenarios. Instead, Mayor Nutter’s solution is to set up government administered shelters where some charities will be allowed to provide food. Sadly, there are some homeless who will not come inside for fear of being robbed and/or assaulted by others and so this “solution” will likely leave some homeless individuals without sustinence. I also have serious doubts as to the effectiveness of government in administering such a shelter fairly.
There is also potentially some politics at play in this whole situation. The Democratic party is set up like a wagon wheel. There is a central hub with various spokes which represent the various interest groups that comprise the party coalition. This may well be an instance where the interests of the artistic elite of the liberal movement have been put ahead of those interests who are primarily concerned with the poor. Despite all of the hot air spouted by progressives about caring for the poor, they clearly favor other interests first and often support regulations that most directly have a negative impact on the poorest Americans.
Sadly, Republicans are not in an effective position to capitalize on the Democratic party and liberal movement’s neglect of the poor. By spending more time talking about what they will not do to help the poor rather than explaining the proper role of government and society in helping those truly struggling in poverty, the Republican party may lose the opportunity to call the Democrats out on this issue.
I am interested to know, however, what the former Chairman of the DNC Tim Kaine has to say about this recent decision by a Democratic mayor of a major American city.