Friday's Rant: The Homeless, The Hutless and Government

There was so many things to write about this week. I had a tough time choosing. But I'd like to dedicate this rant to the 52 million Americans who voted for Barry: kick off your Birkenstocks, pour another double moca latte and light the incense burner - you might learn something.

Apparently, along the Des Moines and Racoon Rivers on the edges of Des Moines is a forest. And in this forest live a tribe of unfortunate homeless people. About a year ago, a local non-profit organization helped build huts for these homeless people out in the woods. As far as huts go, they were pretty nice - four walls, windows, doors and a heating stove. Well, the other day a propane tank blew up in one of them and burned down a hut.

Time for government action...

Immediately, the city came in and evicted all of the homeless from all of the huts - in the middle of winter. "The huts are a fire danger and unsafe to live in." It's one thing to be "homeless," but it's quite another to be "hutless" as well.

As sad as this story is, it is a wonderful case study in how government works and can be applied at any level. After kicking all of the homeless people back onto the street, the city hired a consulting firm to analyze the needs of the homeless and offer their recommendations. Second, they established a "homeless task force" led by a "Homeless Coordinator." Third, they proposed new government spending on a new shelter - "...a shelter in town that we can be proud of," to quote a DSM city councilman. The mind boggles. Only in Des Moines would city leaders want to be proud of their homeless shelter.

Now let's analyze this - Barry's kids, are you still with me?

The city government of DSM is taking the classic approach to building, establishing and maintaining a bureaucracy...

1. Kick the homeless people out of their huts. Homeless people without huts is bad. The government has established a crisis.
2. Hire an out-of-state consulting firm to analyze the needs of the homeless. This legitimizes the crisis by giving the government "independent varification" of the reality that there is, in fact, a crisis. (After all, I'll betcha all my Christmas presents they will NOT come back and recommend, "Let a non-profit build huts in the woods at no cost to the government.")
3. Establishing a Homeless Task Force led by a Homeless Coordinator (is this not hilarious?). Establishes the structure of the bureaucracy and creates the illusion of action.
4. Propose the building of a new homeless shelter. The fresh, new bureaucracy leverages the crisis to insist the only solution is, without doubt, millions of new dollars in new spending and thus further entrenchment of the bureaucracy.

After all this, the homeless are still homeless, the hutless are still hutless and their is no solution to the problem. Another commission will then be formed to see how the previous task force can be improved and the cycle will in one form or another repeat itself. The solution will always be more government.

Friends and neighbors, this is how government works. Whether it is the homeless in DSM, our state's response to the floods of earlier this year, or our federal government's ongoing bailouts of, apparently, EVERYTHING...to the bureaucrat, the answer is always more government, more regulation, more bureaucracy and more money. Ask yourself - seriously - when was the last time our government (at nearly any level) actually "solved" something? It is simply not in the best interest of government to solve problems (assuming it could if it wanted to). Look at any public policy issue and think about its real source - more often than not, government had something to do with creating it.

A sobering thought when you consider what our federal government is doing right now.

Breathe in, breathe out...this week's rant is over.