LETTER TO THE EDITOR WRITTEN 12/19
OROVILLE MERCURY
I’d like to challenge
Patrick Newman on an odd piece produced 12-9. Forgive me if I misconstrue your
implied logic. Distracting a few liberals by using the homeless to slam
Republicans won’t do much to prove your compassion is heartfelt.
Dismissing
the strategies that best serve the poor, those which service their needs the
most efficiently and on a basis of empathy for their dire circumstances, is
partisan gamesmanship regardless of any candidate for office.
Martha Burt of the Urban Institute states, “three quarters
of homeless report having problems with alcohol, drug abuse, or mental illness”.
Our friend Patrick here would dissuade them from attaining
the purpose driven life over what. Apparently with a few of Patrick’s nickels
and dimes, we’re sure to find out.
Meanwhile, Patrick’s diatribe seems to be more pointedly,
one big ad hominem attack on others in society that have a different view of
what helping the poor looks like, and he’s using the very folks he purports to
support as a spring board for that attack.
Government programs that try to provide people with skills
and treatment to overcome addictions and psychoses are expensive and have low
rates of success yet continue to be funded even if they are ineffective.
The success rate of many private programs to help the
homeless is much higher than government programs and their survival depends on
getting good results.
Solutions are the key, not dropping pennies on the street
or using homeless folks as props in you political nonsense.
