Conservatives Give More to Charity
by John Little on 17/11/2006Author of Who Really Cares: The Surprising Truth About Compassionate Conservatism Arthur C. Brooks sums up his findings:
“For too long, liberals have been claiming they are the most virtuous members of American society. Although they usually give less to charity, they have nevertheless lambasted conservatives for their callousness in the face of social injustice.”
Brooks’ work is drawing praise.
Harvey Mansfield, professor of government at Harvard University and 2004 recipient of the National Humanities Medal, does not know Brooks personally but has read the book.
“His main finding is quite startling, that the people who talk the most about caring actually fork over the least,” he said. “But beyond this finding I thought his analysis was extremely good, especially for an economist. He thinks very well about the reason for this and reflects about politics and morals in a way most economists do their best to avoid.”
Brad Miner interviews brooks at CompassPoints.
Sista Toldjah: Wha??? You mean we’re not uncharitable greedmongers afterall?
Blogs for Bush: So, for all the Democrats rhetoric about helping the little guy and blasting Republicans for not caring about the less fortunate, it turns out there’s proof that conservatives give more than liberals.
Free Republic:The stereotype is that Liberals are more caring and generous because they want to “help the poor”. But they don’t really. They want to pass the responsibility of the poor from their own shoulders to the government’s. That way, when people continue to live in poverty, they can sit back and say its not their fault, its the government’s. So not only do they have to do nothing for the poor, they also get to feel smugly self-righteous because they ascribe to the “compassionate” philosophy of liberalism.
The Volokh Conspiracy: Last fall and winter, I circulated a paper on the relationship of people’s views on income redistribution and capitalism to traditional racism and to intolerance for unpopular groups. I presented it to Gary Becker’s and Dick Posner’s Rational Choice Workshop at the University of Chicago and to the Law, Economics, and Organization Workshop at Yale. With the publication of Arthur C. Brooks’ new book Who Really Cares (tip for the news story to Instapundit), which presents data showing that conservatives tend to be more generous than non-conservatives, I decided to put a full PDF copy of my paper on SSRN. It appears that our analyses directly overlap only slightly, though they are certainly generally complementary.
American Conservative Daily: The only problem with the book that I see right now however is that he is misusing the term “compassionate conservatism”. Voluntary charitable donations are not what “compassionate conservatism” is about. “Compassionate Conservatism” is about would-be conservatives who act like social liberals, tax the crud out of Americans and throw government money at every social problem in violation of the federal constitution.
Backyard Conservative: Only liberals are surprised by this one.
The Truth About Everything: Who do you suppose give more money and time to charity? Democrats who are always talking about needing to help those less fortunate, or Republicans who are saying charity should come from the heart. Republicans, those right wing bigots, Bible-thumping numbskulls, who can’t get it through their thick skulls that God isn’t in charge, even give more blood than the Dems.
Power Line: Liberals tend to specialize in giving away other peoples’ money.
From the Left:
Sunbeams from Cucumbers: I would have hoped that mainstream journalists would have either gotten borded of this subject by now, or would have wised up and realized just how dishonest the people peddling it are. But sadly, that’s not the case.
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