How do you do things differently? Besides the charity approach because that worked so well in the past.
1. You start - you
start - by gradually, deeply reducing the level and extent of taxation and regulation; so that people can have jobs, instead of starving their kids in rotten tenements, as many of them currently do. This would solve much of the problem.
1a. You start, by refusing to believe that we can have everything we want, and that the world owes us healthcare, etc. We start teaching our children that the things we want must be earned, and that they (and we) ought to forego certain pleasures, because there are consequences. This would solve much of the problem.
2. Then, we roll back the welfare state to the local level. Less money to waste. More accountability. More flexibility. This would solve much of the problem.
2a. We foster a culture that values honest work, and knows no low-status jobs. One where people are ashamed to accept charity, or public assistance; but not ashamed to make widgets or shine shoes. This would solve much of the problem.
3. We repeal victimless crime laws, to reduce the prison population, and allow "criminals" to have jobs (see point 1). This would solve much of the problem.
Those are just a few things we could do differently. On the medical care side, who knows what new plenitude of affordable care we might see, if we unshackled the marketplace?
