Palace for L.A. Homeless

Opening Monday and trumpeted proudly by city officials is the Midnight Mission - and one of the nation's plushest homeless shelters. The $17 million state-of-the-art facility boasts a full-sized gymnasium, library, playroom, hair salon, education center, and professional kitchen.

What a way to spend tax money! According to the article, the city has more than 6,000 homeless people. I wonder how many more homeless people they will have once word spreads about this facility. Don't get me wrong, I do pity those homeless people that are mentally ill and that were tossed out of institutions due to lack of funding. Unfortunately, a lot of the homeless are people who wholly or partially brought homelessness on themselves, such as by substance abuse, anti-social behavior, etc.

I find it hard to justify millions of dollars of public money for this. To me, this sounds like a case of the government confiscating money via taxes to fund a charity. Individuals should be free to make their own decisions on what causes they wish to donate money to. If a person wants to save the whales, help a battered women's shelter, fund a firearm safety program, aid the American Red Cross or selfishly spend all of their money on themselves, they should have that right. No government entity should be compelling people to support a specific charitable cause.

Charity is a great expression of generosity and is very admirable. This virtue, however, is lost when politicians take other people's money without their consent, and then bestow it upon others.