Libertarians don’t like welfare because they think the free market can solve all our problems even though that has never been the case anywhere in the world at any time. I guess it gives them the ability to say no to things like unemployment benefits, food stamps, and social security disability without feeling guilty or selfish when they say “But private charity can solve all those problems” even though that has never been the case anywhere in the world at any time.
No, what really bugs me is when they say, all superior-like, that conservatives give more to charity than liberals. While that is true, the key question is who the charity benefits.
Conservatives give more to religious-based charities. If you only count non-religious-based charities, then liberals give much more. New York state jumps from #18th most generous to #2, and Pennsylvania goes from #40 to #4.
While some religious-based charities certainly help the poor (soup kitchens and homeless shelters are a great use of charity funds), churches also spend a lot of money on churches. Take the Mormons.
The Mormon Tabernacle in Salt Lake City
And then the Mormons (and the Knights of Columbus and other religious groups) spent millions over the last few years in politics — filing lawsuits, buying ads, and campaigning against gay marriage. All of that was considered tax-free “charity” (while those of us on the other side had to consider our contributions as “political” which the IRS does not consider “charity”).
Not all charity is equal, and no one should say, “I give to charity so therefore I don’t have to worry about homeless children.” Your contributions may protect the kids against the horrors of two people in love getting married, but it won’t protect them against starvation.
ventrellaquest.com 
Interesting numbers, but the organizations you mentioned also run some of those beneficial charities you mentioned. The LDS church runs Deseret Industries as well as food banks which are used by their own members. In fact, there is a substantial private welfare system run within the Mormon church funded largely by those donations
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Mormon-food-bank-a-private-welfare-system-3168966.php
Lastly, you might want to have a picture of a building they built more recently than 1853-1893 (it took 40 years to build the Salt Lake Temple).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_temples_of_The_Church_of_Jesus_Christ_of_Latter-day_Saints#Dedicated:_2010s
LikeLike
I agree completely that some of the money raised by religions go to worthy causes, and I did say so in my post. The Mormons, for instance, helped tremendously after hurricane Sandy, if I recall.
My point was merely that you can’t say “We don’t need welfare because there is private charity” when some of that charity money goes to things that are not at all welfare-like.
LikeLike
They tried to help. Same after Katrina. Apparently, they sent a great, huge shipment of supplies in both cases and FEMA wouldn’t accept them. Bureaucracy at its finest.
That’s not to say I like the Mormon church, they do some pretty bad things (your references to Prop 8 are already made)
LikeLike
All those wealthy liberal New Yorkers donating money millions to the opera and museums (for the benefit of people who can afford to spend time at the opera and museums) are much more generous than those red-staters giving money for church food drives and homelessness relief, aren’t they? Please! This polemical straw man is not worthy of serious rebuttal.
LikeLike
What, conservatives also don’t donate to colleges and opera and museums?
The whole point of my argument was to show how ridiculous it is to say, “Look, red states give more to charity so we’re better than you are nyah nyah! And humbler, too.” The link I provided gives details about how it is only true if you count religious donations.
LikeLike
Donations to theaters allow low income, middle income and upper middle income kids to go to dress rehersals of great shows. I personally know four kids that didn’t give a rat’s ass about passing classes until they joined the drama club and had to pass to go on our free trips. They were free because of donations, not our own fundraisers. They were willing to flunk out, which I could not understand at the time, but as an adult, I know they had no incentive. I’m only in contact with one of those kids, but she pays taxes And the other supposedly do, too.
Anyway, I didn’t mean to go off on that, I wanted to say the point is the percentages are what matter with churches. I have two uncles with very different churches. If churches lost their tax shelter benefits one uncle’s church would have a huge difference in taxes. My minister uncle would barely see a difference because he only spends the rent, electricity and taxes on the church, the rest is spent on the actual charitable acts.
LikeLike