Neighbors or Robbers

A response to the substance of Tara’s post rather than just the taking umbrage part:

In response to a well-written and superbly researched piece regarding taxes, Bryan Fischer and the Idaho Values Alliance, Idaho’s conservative blogger Adam Graham took an infuriating position: Instead of asking that the government do something for the people, liberals should show some compassion and start a fund for the Idaho families who have been adversely affected by emergency state budget cuts so the compassionate conservatives who are more “generous” could send a few bucks to the fund.

Oh, it gets better. Adam Graham prefaced his argument with a comment on the source, the Zeb Bell show, where Bryan Fischer was found saying that we would be less opposed to taxing Idahoans, many of whom are struggling in these hard economic times, if the tax money was being funneled to faith-based organizations.

Actually Fischer didn’t say anything on the Bell show about funding faith-based organizations, at least not that MGR quoted. MGR took another quote from Fischer suggesting that money spent on a detox center would be better used given to faith-based organizations that have helped people break the power of drug addiction. Fischer did not suggest he’d be more amenable to a tax increase if the funds were going to faith-based organizations. There was no tax increase involved in this, at least as of yet.

Nor am I somebody who doesn’t give and uses the excuse that nobody has set up a fund. I don’t usually talk about my giving habits, but beyond my own church donations, I support eight other organizations with direct giving from each paycheck including the Boise Rescue Mission.

The difference between the conservatives and liberals on this point is that the conservatives believe in community: neighbors helping and caring for one another. The liberals believe in robbery, taking from money from some people who have worked hard for it to give to others who have not worked for it.

If we act as neighbors, the giver feels a sense of accomplishment and having done something good for his fellow man. The person who receives feels grateful. It’s a generous society.

 If we act as robbers, the person who has their money taken away. may feel a lot of things.

He may feel angry or resentful. I remember being in a bad health plan one year. The premiums were so high, I had no money to go to a doctor. Yet, someone who was on Medicaid who could have worked but didn’t was rewarded with free health care. 

He may feel indifferent to suffering. The problems of somebody else are not their problems. They don’t give to charity. That’s the government’s job. Isn’t the Spirit of Scrooge with us today? “Are there are no prisons, are there no workhouses?”Sorry, liberals. It’s not just Joe Biden, liberals on average give far less to charity.

As for the recipient, it’s sad. Rather than an attitude of gratitude, those who receive government largesse often feel entitled to other people’s money. There’s no sense of, “Isn’t it great that people work all year so that I can have Health Care.” Rather, no thought goes to the guy driving a garbage truck who goes with less to pay for the health care who doesn’t work. The sense of entitlement says, “I deserve this.”

Government programs are flawed because government thinks people are little more than animals. Feed them, clothe them, treat their injuries, and you’ve taken care of the poor.

Wrongo. People are more than just animals. They have living souls with deep needs and noble instincts. These instincts have often been destroyed: the work ethic, the desire to contribute to society are all undermined by government programs which too often encourage dependency rather than rewarding work and initiative.

This is before we even talk about the gobs of money the government wastes on red tape and bureaucracy before getting money to the needy.

No one desires to leave the poor unehelped. However, liberals and conservatives have a fundamental philisophical difference.