It’s often said that people don’t help one another anymore. Some blame television and others blame the lack of religion but the real answer is probably because it’s illegal:
The ticket cited Section No: 613.06 of Cleveland’s Municipal Codes, which is littering from a motor vehicle.
His offense was listed as, “Throw paper out window,” and in parenthesis, “money to panhandler.”
John said he was confused because money is paper but it’s not trash.Cleveland police can’t comment on the ticket at this time but according to a spokesperson there is another code that may have been violated.
There is a code which states that it is illegal to panhandle or give money to panhandlers near a highway or street including a berm, shoulder, treelawn or sidewalk.
Section No: 471.06 states in part that “No person shall stand on a highway for the purpose of soliciting…contributions…”
You know those Federal Reserve notes you get handed in exchange for your labor? You can use them to buy a great many things but if you give them to a panhandler in Cleveland you’re violating the law. How can giving money to somebody who is likely homeless be illegal? Probably because large cities are waging war against the poor. This is probably being done in the hopes of running the poor out of town in order to boost the average income statistic of the city so a bunch of bureaucrats can trot around and claim their leadership has lead to more prosperity for all.
Ever since the state decided to enter the welfare market they’ve made it harder and hard for individuals to voluntarily help one another. It seems new prohibitions against helping those in need are put into the law books everyday. You can’t even hand out food to the hungry without getting a stamp of approval from the state, which requires an inspected and approved kitchen staffed by state-sanctioned personell serving food that has been blessed by the state as meeting arbitrary nutritional requirements.
People haven’t largely stopped helping one another because of any societal issue, they’re just watching out for themselves because they know helping another person in need can lead to fines or being thrown in a cage.