One of the most persistent attacks against conservatives and Republicans are that they are anti-poor. The Left makes this claim while they know it is not true. As with all of their attacks against Republicans, it is meant to induce their followers and low-information voters that conservatives and Republicans are not human, that they have no place in governance. That smear is easily dismissed using the words of one of the heroes of the Left, Nicholas Kristof, who was stunned to find out that his ideological counterparts—liberals or “progressives”—are “absolute tightwads” when compared to conservatives in terms of charitable giving. Are conservatives and Republicans anti-poor? Nope … but one party is stingy with charitable giving Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times details how stingy left-leaning political types are in terms of charity Liberals show tremendous compassion in pushing for generous government spending to help the neediest people at home and abroad. Yet when it comes to individual contributions to charitable causes, liberals are cheapskates. Kristof does not write this because he thought it true, he quotes the facts from two sources, Arthur Brooks and Google, neither of which are the dreaded Faux News. Conservatives are more charitable and it’s not even a close contest. “Arthur Brooks, the author of a book on donors to charity, ‘Who Really Cares,’ cites data that households headed by conservatives give 30 percent more to charity than households headed by liberals. A study by Google found an even greater disproportion: average annual contributions reported by conservatives were almost double those of liberals. Other research has reached similar conclusions. The ‘generosity index’ from the Catalogue for Philanthropy typically finds that red states are the most likely to give to nonprofits, while Northeastern states are least likely to do so. The upshot is that Democrats, who speak passionately about the hungry and homeless, personally fork over less money to charity than Republicans — the ones who try to cut health insurance for children.” Kristof’s ideological opposite, George Will, broke the numbers down to a more detailed degree: “– 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. – People who reject the idea that “government has a responsibility to reduce income inequality” give an average of four times more than people who accept that proposition.”
Posted on: Thu, 29 May 2014 12:53:14 +0000