On 3/8/2011 12:27 PM, Ed Huntress wrote:
wrote in message
...
On Mar 8, 2:45 pm, "Ed wrote:


The objection to substituting private charity for a government safety net
is
that the wealthy individuals who are so generous tend to support those
people, and those ideas, that they favor -- and to hell with everyone
else.
This idea has been floating around for at least 250 years and was a point
of
contention before this country was founded. The real hard-core
conservatives
who provided most of the thought that preceded today's "conservatism" --
people like Milton Friedman, Barry Goldwater and the like -- acknowledged
this point and proposed a negative income tax to deal with it.

--
Ed Huntress

I was not suggesting that private charity ought to be promoted as a
substitute for a government safety net.

I realize that, but there are some here who would take it as a sign that we
should drop the safety net.


I was merely pointing out that Hawke has a unrealistic view of the
world. I think he believes that conservatives are not generous.

I haven't been paying close enough attention to know, but certainly what you
said would make the point.



If you make categories of people and rate their generosity, those that
we call conservative are not going to be near the top in generosity.
It's their nature to be much closer to the bottom. If you know much
about wealthy people and generosity you don't find conservatives being
generous as a habit. You have some super rich conservatives that have
given up large amounts of money in their lives, usually at the tail end.
But you normally don't find conservatives handing out anything. Like I
said, that is against their nature and their philosophy.

You also have many cases where what passes for generosity is actually
just meant to retain wealth. Giving money to foundations or passing it
on to relatives is more about maintaining wealth than being generous.
Also, large charitable contributions are only done for tax advantages
not real generosity. Not only that, studies have shown that the poor are
actually far more generous than the rich at least relatively. Even when
it comes to countries the wealthiest aren't the most generous. As a
percentage of GDP the U.S. is not at the top when it comes to being
generous. So Dan can think what he wants about conservatives and
generosity and use a study here and there to support his belief. But my
life experience and my reading on the subject has convinced me if you
need help from someone the last person you go to is the most conservative.

Hawke