Replies

There was a time in the 19th century that America understood a crucial distinction: there are deserving poor and there are undeserving poor. The proliferation of private charities at the time used this distinction to target their efforts.

Unrepentant drunks and charlatans were “undeserving” and left to their own devices. Widows and children and others victimized through no fault of their own were sought out and offered serious assistance.

It was a system that worked to a great extent. It was destroyed by the “Progressive” Era of Teddy Roosevelt and the creation of a new profession: a bunch of trained busybodies known as “social workers” whose sole purpose was to replace private charity with government controlled handouts. We all can see the results of this miscarriage of judgment even today.