LETTER: Government ‘help’ for the homeless makes things worse

In response to Cheryl Milne’s Sunday letter, in which she states that the Trump economic miracle never reaches the poor:

As a behavioral health patient for the past 39 years who just spent 18 months in and out of homeless shelters, I winced every time I received government “help.” Trying to keep up with the litany of rules in unsafe, stressful environments only sickened my brain disorder and acquired brain injury.

Imagine a sloppy DMV in charge of your only food and shelter for miles around, run by an inexperienced staff, and you can see what government help does to a man.

Government sets rules enforced by men with guns that serve the homeowners and wage earners and trample the poor. It forbids us from the job and housing markets through minimum wage and housing ordinances designed for individuals on track to earn a million dollars in their lifetime. It needlessly raises the floor for subsistence and shelter.

We need less taxation and regulation, which will give us prosperity so regular people can help poor people and the many who could subsist on lower wages and affordable housing without bureaucratic meddlers. The problem isn’t lack of charity or generosity, it is the political class robbing the weak and marginalized by thinking every facet of American life must be governed, regulated and taxed. I’m not saying all poor people are a failure of public policy. But at least half of us are on the street because of it.

Take a look at the next homeless man or woman you see. We are your children, Las Vegas. Please get your boot off our necks.