What function do the poor serve? They provide a coherent morality to those who otherwise are lacking one. The poor are of particular use to the post-religious, who see in “rectifying” economic and social inequality a reason for being.
Logically, though–and I’ve said this many times many ways–a religion of “helping” people requires people to help. If the people to help dry up, there must necessarily be a crisis of meaning.
This is why it is not only proper to question the motives of do-gooders, but NECESSARY for those pursuing coherent, qualitatively rich moralities.
All morality–which is to say all purpose–must reside with the individual, first. One must be capable of finding ones way alone on a desert island. Only then can one be counted on to tell the difference between their own need to be a rescuer, and the objective necessities of others.
We all need meaning more than food, although of course we need food too. America has fed the poor. What we have not done is create a reasonable likelihood they will ever emerge from dependence.
One could, in fact, make the case that the poor provide leftists with a charity of their own: projects to work on, which will never cease as long as the focus is on the alleged intent (as long as “compassion” and “empathy”–both of course here badly abused as words) are invoked in the “journey”.