Feeding the Homeless: Activist Stands Up to City Government

Most people are used to seeing signs that say, “don’t feed the animals,”  as those signs are posted in parks and zoos. What no one expects to see, however, are signs that say “Do not feed the people,” right?

One of the oldest traditions of Western civilization is giving alms to the poor, including feeding the homeless.  The City of Los Angeles almost made it illegal to feed the homeless.  This is how a group of activists stopped big government in its tracks.

In 2013, Los Angeles City Councilman Tom LaBonge introduced a motion before the City Council prohibiting anyone from feeding the homeless in public rights of way (sidewalks, street corners, open areas).  The councilmen justified the motion on health and food safety reasons.  Libertarian activist Angela McArdle had a problem with the motion.

“Who are they to tell the people they’re not allowed to help the needy?” says McArdle.  According to the paralegal and Libertarian activist, she and her friends have been feeding the homeless for years.  LaBonge’s rationalization for the motion was that it protected the homeless from food poisoning from improperly prepared food.  If people wanted to help them, they would have to incorporate, become accountable to the IRS, open a kitchen, and have their facilities inspected by city, county, state, and federal bureaucrats.

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Art Alas and the war refugees

One of the things that sickened me most recently about the "Grand" Old Party was the way they spoke of the Central American child refugees, as if they were trash. Say what you want about adult immigrants who come here illegally, but the God I believe in will hold people accountable for the way they treated these children. Art Alas is a different kind of Republican.

Make no mistake, the Central American children are war refugees fleeing from a vicious criminal insurgency. The violence in Central America is an extension of the Mexican Drug War, which is actually a multi-sided civil war created in part by the Obama Administration's policies and constant meddling in foreign affairs.

The Mexican drug lords are warlords ruling over large territories. The cartels are paramilitary insurgent armies mixing guerrilla warfare with crime and terrorism. The main culprits of violence in Central America are the transnational gangs MS-13 and M-18, or 18th Street. MS-13 are auxiliaries working/fighting for the Sinaloa Cartel while M-18 work/fight for the Zetas Cartel. Theirs is the violence the immigrant children are escaping.

Art, being a man of integrity, acted with leadership and compassion.

Art said,"We need to put politics aside and do something to help these kids. We need to help them NOW." He organized a relief effort with Hearts for Humanity to gather vital supplies (food, toiletries, etc.) for these kids who are alone in a strange country, their fates completely out of their hands. Charity by choice!

It baffles me how members of Congress in both parties could be so eager to make war in the Middle East, yet they could so easily ignore child war refugees on our own doorstep. They may as well have turned their backs on Jesus in His final suffering.

Art believes that we need to secure our borders to keep criminals and terrorists out of our country. I agree with this. I also agree with Art that "Jesus said, Suffer [the] little children, and forbid them not to come unto me" and "Whatever you did for the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me" (Matthew 19:14, 25:40).  Therefore, Art and his dedicated corps of volunteers put politics aside to do something for the children.

This is the kind of integrity virtually nonexistent on Capitol Hill. Art Alas is the kind of man I want representing me in Washington.

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Art Alas campaign photo courtesy of ElectAlas.com.