Michael Tanner

Private charities, not government welfare programs, are best equipped to deal with social problems such as homelessness, contends Michael Tanner in the viewpoint that follows. Because charities promote personal responsibility and offer individualized attention, he maintains, they are extremely successful in helping the poor regain self-sufficiency. Tanner is director of health and welfare studies at the Cato Institute, a nonpartisan public policy research foundation that promotes limited government, individual liberty, and peace.

As you read, consider the following questions:

1. Why are private charities better equipped than welfare programs to give individualized attention to the poor, as stated by Tanner?
2. According to the author, why is it easier for private charities than for government to demand that recipients change their behavior?
3. What do recipients learn from private charity, in Tanner’s view?

Those who...