Begging is not exactly something new in the USA. We have lots of various private charitable organizations asking for money, and we all give to some of them. What is still new in my experience is panhandling, more appropriately called begging.
I am a senior citizen. I don’t personally remember George Washington, but I do remember the sexual revolution, the assassination of JFK, the moon landings, and the endless political bickering during the Vietnam War. Back then panhandlers — beggars — were rare. Homelessness was also unusual. What happened?
It seems to me that back then Americans institutionalized those who could not take care of themselves, especially the mentally ill, and our charitable organizations, both private and government, were relatively effective in aiding the poor. How did we lose the capacity to deal with these problems?
Now, even though unemployment is at record lows, panhandling — begging — seems to be rapidly on the increase. Panhandlers on street corners are commonplace. It is no longer unusual to be accosted between our cars and the entrance of a store and asked for money.
Moreover, venues for begging seem to be expanding. Recently, when I was sitting in a restaurant, a lady came up to me and shoved her little piece of wrinkled paper at me. As usual, the writing was in bold print. She wanted a handout. I looked to her right. She had a little girl’s hand in her hand.
What should I do? Since the lady was Hispanic, I could not question her. Was the child hers? Or had she just acquired the little girl to gain the sympathy of potential marks? Who had put her up to this? Was she also being used?
I still don’t know the answers to those questions. I just know that the advice on the Internet for dealing with panhandlers — beggars — is useless. We still have organizations for helping the poor, but why don’t the websites that give advice on panhandling mention them?
What do I know? I know beggars were once rare in the USA. Instead of letting problems related to poverty fester, previous generations dealt with them.
Now? Now we have opened our borders and invited the world’s poor to descend upon us and beg from us while we eat. Stupid! Who but the devil gains by making a problem worse?
Prince William-Manassas Family Alliance 
Tom,
Other than bad luck, homelessness, mental illness, drugs, and alcohol are the main drivers that result in more beggars on city streets in Chicago.
Many do not want to go to shelters for fear of being robbed by other beggars,
In ancient times, beggars were common.
The more beggars, the greater the evidence of a failing society, When the family unit fails, so does society fail also.
Sad, in my opinion. it will get a lot worse in time when our Government fails financially from debt in the future.
Religious charities are failing financially also.
Regards and good will blogging.
.
When we allow millions of poor people into our country, people who cannot even speak English, we make it very difficult to operate shelters effectively. People with mental illness and drug problem needs lots of individual care. In a prosperous economy, someone who cannot hold down a job has a problem of some kind they don’t know how to solve. Such people need individual care too. That adds up to a significant expense. Other nations need to solve their own problems, not send them here.
Can’t disagree that flooding the USA with more people in need of help is going to exacerbate problems. Used to be someone had to sponsor and be financially responsible to help immigrants they want to enter to stay in USA.
Regards and goodwill blogging 9