•November 11, 2015•

By Jim Nowlan
NP Guest Columnist

Years ago a friend of mine wanted to title a book of his, “Everybody cares but nobody knows,” but his publisher nixed the idea.

What he meant was that most of us want to help people in real need, and society tries to do so through a bewildering array of charities and government programs. Yet nobody seems to follow the persons helped to know if we do any long-lasting good.

So it is in Illinois. We have a byzantine social service apparatus that seems designed to befuddle and exasperate both the people in need and taxpayers alike. I have a few ideas to make sense of it all, which might appeal to conservatives and liberals alike.

First, some background.

Throughout American history, the poor were helped, unevenly at best, I’m sure, by a mix of local churches and charities, and in Illinois, by township supervisors who administered (and still do) what used to be called “poor relief” or general assistance. County governments provided Spartan room and board for the elderly poor at “county farms.”

State governments warehoused the “insane” and the mentally infirm, those who couldn’t be handled at home or in the community, in large institutions far off the road, behind immaculately manicured lawns, far out of sight.     Login or Subscribe to read the rest of this story.