Conservatives care more. Not me, of course.
From George Will's column:
Sixteen months ago, Arthur C. Brooks, a professor at Syracuse University, published "Who Really Cares: The Surprising Truth About Compassionate Conservatism." The surprise is that liberals are markedly less charitable than conservatives.
If many conservatives are liberals who have been mugged by reality, Brooks, a registered independent, is, as a reviewer of his book said, a social scientist who has been mugged by data. They include these findings:
Although liberal families' incomes average 6 percent higher than those of conservative families, conservative-headed households give, on average, 30 percent more to charity than the average liberal-headed household ($1,600 per year vs. $1,227).
Conservatives also donate more time and give more blood.
Residents of the states that voted for John Kerry in 2004 gave smaller percentages of their incomes to charity than did residents of states that voted for George Bush.
Bush carried 24 of the 25 states where charitable giving was above average.
In the 10 reddest states, in which Bush got more than 60 percent majorities, the average percentage of personal income donated to charity was 3.5. Residents of the bluest states, which gave Bush less than 40 percent, donated just 1.9 percent.
I'd like to state for the record that I'm a conservative, but I am not one who gives a flying crap about 'poor people.' I do not give to people charities. So-called poor people already get too much of my money and have enough advocates ready to soak me for more. But I do give a chunk to animal charities. Save the animals.
Sixteen months ago, Arthur C. Brooks, a professor at Syracuse University, published "Who Really Cares: The Surprising Truth About Compassionate Conservatism." The surprise is that liberals are markedly less charitable than conservatives.
If many conservatives are liberals who have been mugged by reality, Brooks, a registered independent, is, as a reviewer of his book said, a social scientist who has been mugged by data. They include these findings:
Although liberal families' incomes average 6 percent higher than those of conservative families, conservative-headed households give, on average, 30 percent more to charity than the average liberal-headed household ($1,600 per year vs. $1,227).
Conservatives also donate more time and give more blood.
Residents of the states that voted for John Kerry in 2004 gave smaller percentages of their incomes to charity than did residents of states that voted for George Bush.
Bush carried 24 of the 25 states where charitable giving was above average.
In the 10 reddest states, in which Bush got more than 60 percent majorities, the average percentage of personal income donated to charity was 3.5. Residents of the bluest states, which gave Bush less than 40 percent, donated just 1.9 percent.
I'd like to state for the record that I'm a conservative, but I am not one who gives a flying crap about 'poor people.' I do not give to people charities. So-called poor people already get too much of my money and have enough advocates ready to soak me for more. But I do give a chunk to animal charities. Save the animals.
posted by Walker at 9:40 AM
3 Comments:
Conservatives are more charitable because they are more likely to believe charity begins at home, and many of them will donate to charities they are familiar with, or are local the community, etc. Where as liberals feel the instrument for "good" in the world is the government, and rather than giving to charities working people should be taxed heavily to fund their utopian social vision, which is much better than donating food to a can drive at church. I generally do not donate the large charities, simply because I've seen them close enough to know that a great deal of that money goes to fund things that have nothing to do with the ostensible mission of the charity--the Red Cross does some fine work, but with a Big Government overhead of rent, office supplies and equipment, furniture, seminars, consultants, salaries. The American Cancer society spends a great deal on travel and seminars and so on, and then--though a cash-flush non-profit--has begun agitating on political issues, like healthcare nationalization. Sheesh!
But almost every liberal I've known (and you can't trust what they say about themselves if you don't know them, because I hear them say one thing and the reality is always another thing entirely) mouths charitable sentiments and believes that others should be forced to give their money to the poor, preferably through government social programs, but do not believe in charity in their own lives. Indeed, they are often the most agressive at assuring they pay as little taxes as possible--but you, oh, you, you business-owner you, you need to pay through the nose! And, sure, I've known some dodgy, stingy conservatives (who, frankly, showed some other liberal tendencies, too) but in general the lefties I know tend to be more self-centered, less-charitable, and less generous of their money and time, where the conservatives I know and have known tend to be more generous, across the board. And the stats bear that out. And it doesn't surprise me a bit.
Are you calling me a liberal?
Eeeeek! Go ahead and call me names but I still refuse to give money to the indolent useless tax-sucking bottom feeding poor.
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