The Nation's Pulse/Why Are They Begging?
Haag, Ernest van den
THE NATION'S PULSE WHY ARE THEY BEGGING? Lately New Yorkers find many more beggars than they are accustomed to. So do residents of most other cities as far away as San Diego, California, and...
...Has this moral reluctance been weakened...
...preme Court, a Senior Department of Transportation, and even a Senior White House sometime next summer...
...That others have what they don't have...
...Beggars have become ubiquitous, largely because the police, owing to judicial decisions, no longer have the legal means and the will to confine begging to a few areas of town as was done in former times...
...None of the above considerations seem sufficient to explain the increase...
...They may not go hungry—although some say they do—but do lack the minor amenities of life...
...Add sales tax for CA delivery...
...I can think of two complementary ideas, both plausible, although speculative: hard evidence is hard to come by...
...This is so because many people feel that an amount ranging from a quarter to a dollar is worth spending to be rid of a beggar...
...But it is socially and morally far better than to take the easy way out, assuage guilt feelings, and encourage parasitic living...
...Senior Girlfriends have also been spotted, but Moffett denies that any are on the payroll...
...Protesting what...
...Since employment is available, they beg because they find begging profitable enough to prefer it to the work which, to coin a phrase, goes begging...
...I can still filibuster, I can still pork barrel, and I can still pin hopelessly inappropriate legislation onto omnibus bills with the best of them," says Wright...
...The rich, anyway, are less spontaneous...
...For some this hard course may come hard...
...Anyone who cannot find a job and earn a living may ultimately be driven to begging...
...We have a small monthly allotment of the Venturer 2, same as the standard Venturer, but it also plays cassette tapes...
...Moffett says that if the Senior House, whose deliberations will be carried live on CNN starting in March, is a success, he may consider adding a Senior Senate, a Senior SuVenturer MultiBand Receiver only $9995* *But read the ad for an even better deal...
...So far, Jim Wright, Tip O'Neill, Tony Coelho, and John Jenrette have all committed to a 16-week legislative season," beams Kirby Moffett, the wealthy condominium developer who came up with the novel idea for a roving legislative ensemble...
...We will have fewer of them begging if we pay less...
...Wherever the Senior House has appeared so far, the ex-politicians have been vastly outnumbered by an ancillary group of Senior Lobbyists, Senior Pundits, and Senior Legislative Assistants...
...Yet, as suggested, peoplewho are disabled and unable to work are provided for by the welfare system...
...And some of the beggars may come from welfare families who have always been paid just for being poor, but not paid much...
...And Carter, well, we know we can get Jimmy cheap...
...as it seems, they may find begging easier...
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...The quarter we give them discourages them from working and encourages them to go on begging...
...One might wish to help out an elderly beggar...
...We hit backwaters of the Okefenokee where people have never even heard of the House of Representatives," notes Coelho, who resigned from Congress last spring, amidst allegations of fiscal improprieties involving Drexel Burnham Lambert...
...The great majority of people would hardly consider it, even as a last resort...
...It's a real civics lesson for these yahoos...
...First, begging has always been regarded as acceptable by only a small group of society...
...I do know some wholly disabled persons...
...These persons do not live luxuriously...
...Much as I enjoyed being in the House of Representatives, I never had any real fun up there," laughs recently deposed House Speaker Jim Wright...
...Personality disturbances seem to exist in both groups, but they seem to differ and lead to different behavior...
...DC source...
...It was thought shameful and immoral...
...He may be provided for...
...Perhaps they avoid feelings of guilt for having failed to be charitable...
...Begging by Ernest van den Haag has become a reasonable alternative to other occupations available for making a living...
...But they need not beg, and they do not...
...These are not the greatest jobs...
...So why not get additional money from those who have it...
...Others beg even though they receive help from social agencies...
...Moffett, who charges a $3.99 admission to each congressional session, concedes that salaries are nothing like those the legends of American politics used to haul down while they were on Capitol Hill...
...The ex-congressmen travel around the state in two oversized mobile homes, plus a ferry—the Houseboat—that plies its way through the swampier regions of the interior...
...or a loss of prestige in the eyes of their companions...
...As for the actual cripples, or those who tell you, particularly on subway trains, of their horrifying diseases, don't we have elaborate and costly social services to take care of such cases...
...make up the Senior Congress are a rich and varied lot, ranging from retired but cash-strapped legends such as O'Neill to disgraced figures such as Pat Swindall, the convicted Georgia congressman who has been granted weekend passes from federal prison to participate in the ersatz House's bogus deliberations...
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...Secondly, begging has become rewarding enough to be an alternative to employment in low paying jobs...
...However, unemployment—around five percent of the labor force—is not high by historical standards in New York...
...They are taken care of by social agencies which pay for their medical care and living expenses...
...Weather Bureau, and get news of all support services—police, fire, ships, and civil defense...
...Yet, an increase of begging has occurred...
...We have every expectation that it will be a huge boost to tourism...
...EMINENTOES SENIOR CITIZENS by Joe Queenan I nspired by the success of the fledg- 1 ling Senior Baseball League, a Florida real estate developer has launched a Senior House of Representatives based in Pompano Beach, Florida...
...Subway riders seem a source of profit, limousine riders less so...
...Perhaps they give loose change because the good time put them in a generous mood...
...Strange Ernest van den Haag is a distinguished scholar at the Heritage Foundation...
...But it may also be that the average person identifies more with the hard luck story he is being told...
...In the nature of the matter some people are likely to fall through the cracks of any welfare system, although our system requires only that need be shown...
...Some of the beggars may have higher qualifications...
...If you prefer, mail check or card autorization and expiration...
...Incidentally, many of the homeless, although certainly no less poor than the beggars, do not beg...
...N o system can eliminate begging altogether...
...THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR APRIL 1990 33...
...T hough most members of the Se- 1 nior Congress are seasoned warriors whose political careers are clearly over, more than a handful admit that they are wandering around the wilds of semi-rural Florida in thehopes of getting their careers back on track...
...We have been paying young people too much for begging...
...I suspect that more people than in the past feel morally entitled to beg as an inchoate form of protest...
...But you can also roam the international shortwaveand ham radio bands (4 to 12 mHz) for information from all over the world...
...This seems not likely, however, to be the case of the many 20- or 30-year-old strong and healthy looking males, who literally shake their begging cups in your face...
...The thirty-two ex-congressmen who Joe Queenan is a frequent contributor to Barron's and other publications...
...Indeed, most people would willingly give to people in actual need who have no other resort...
...More important, "help wanted" signs adorn many places in the city...
...I think it's going to be a hoot...
...We import Venturers in container loads and can offer them for just $99.95...
...or, they feel that since they can afford a good time, they should be willing to give at least some crumbs to those who can't...
...Then there is the aircraft band, and all 40 channels of the CB band...
...Increased visibility may account for some of the apparent increase, but there is little doubt that the number of beggars has actually increased in New York...
...People in need because of alcoholism or drug addiction are subsidized just as people in need because of any other misfortune...
...Why do people beg, and specifically why do so many young people...
...The "special dear= 3 for the price of 2—is also available for this model...
...It is hard to be old, unable to work, and poor enough to beg...
...Thus, begging may become profitable and will attract people who prefer it to tedious employment with fixed hours, taxes, and supervisors—and net income below the earnings from begging...
...You have 30-day return privilege and one year warranty...
...I still think I can cut it in the bigs...
...Puzzlingly, beggars seem to make out better with average working Americans than with the rich...
...But we have an even better deal: Buy two for $199.90, and we'll send you a third one, with our compliments—absolutely FREE...
...But why not help him, even if he has enough to eat...
...Perhaps the usual bureaucratic barriers are too formidable for some to surmount...
...This here Senior Circuit gives me a chance to crack jokes, slap fannies, even squish a few cream pies in Republican faces...
...And you can pick up the TV-audio from channels 2 to 13, a great way to keep up with your favorite prouams...
...This is certainly the case of people with personality disturbances too mild for institutionalization, yet too pervasive to permit them to overcome bureaucratic hurdles...
...They may be right, too, and help more effectively than does giving a quarter to the 32 THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR APRIL 1990 person who tells a hard luck story...
...Employers want busboys, dishwashers, delivery boys, garage mechanics, handymen, salespeople...
...The Venturer Receiver gives you crisp reception over the full ten bands of the radio spectrum, including, of course, the entire AM/FM range...
...It seems that beggars do best with those out for a good time in the appropriate areas of the city...
...reports of the U.S...
...We cannot ship without this information...
...It would be hard to explain why so many young and healthy persons resort to begging, unless begging is more acceptable to them than working in a menial job...
...There always are some people who will resort to it, and some willing to give their change...
...But there is more: Listen to 24--hr...
...It would sure bring out the teenyboppers," chuckles Moffett...
...Work...
...down in the Grapefruit League pay starts at $400 a week, plus motel lodging (shared double beds), and an $18 per diem for meals...
...Thus, like the homeless, beggars have become more visible than before because they can choose where to be...
...UPS/insurance: $6.95 for one Venturer MultiBand Receiver, $8.95 for three...
...Why don't they...
...they go in for organized charity...
...Today's beggars beg almost defiantly, and seem more intent on stirring guilt feelings than pity...
...Indeed, the welfare system, and the high demand for workers, would explain a decrease...
...Moffett also has high hopes that convicted jail-bait aficionado Buz Lukens may join the group should Ohio voters chuck him out of office in the next congressional election...
...W hat might explain that increase...
...None explain the increase of young and healthy beggars...
...But, surely, they could work at these jobs, as an alternative to begging...
...The remedy, then, and it is the only practical remedy we have, is, with the exception of the old and disabled, to refuse to give anything to beggars...
...Venturer works off your 110-volt house current, off batteries, or off any external 12-V...
...The problem that must and can be solved is begging by young and able persons...
...Some beggars may be unable to work because of physical ailments...
...It yields little...
...But Ford got shortchanged on his term, only serving those two years, so he'll do it for lunch money plus a guarantee of a couple of good tee times...
...Let me make one observation here for which I have only the most tentative explanations...
...They find it insufficient to support the habits that are part of their personality disturbance, such as drinking or drug taking...
...The Congress will travel around to eighteen different shopping malls in southern Florida and stage lifelike debates on all the pivotal legislative issues of our time: abortion, disarmament, airline de-regulation, sex with congressional pages...
...But none of the senior congressmen seem to be complaining...
...We need daytime phone for all orders and issuing bank for charge orders...
...They seem to be of all ages and both sexes, but the high proportion of young men stands out because it's unexpected...
...Reagan wants big bucks—you know, that Japan thing—and Nixon's still pouting," says the good-natured Moffett...
...It costs $30 more—$129.95...
...ihills 131 Townsend Street, San Francisco, CA 94107 Put the whole world at your fingertips, with...
...Perhaps we overestimate the increase in begging...
...So do residents of most other cities as far away as San Diego, California, and London, England...
...Perhaps the greater accessibility of the comparatively poor accounts for this...
Vol. 23 • April 1990 • No. 4
