Compassionate Conservatism

I was listening to Rush Limbaugh today, and I often do, and he was discussing the charitable giving trends of Conservatives (Republicans) and Liberals (Democrats). One of the main sources of the discussion was the book “Who Really Cares: The Surprising Truth about Compassionate Conservatism" by Arthur Brooks. The conclusion of the book, is that while Liberals are widely viewed as more compassionate because of their view that the government should redistribute wealth from the rich to the poor, it is Conservatives who are far more charitable with their own money, giving an average of over 30% more to charitable organizations.

While I'm sure this is surprising to those who pay attention to the drive-by media's portrayal of Conservatives as mean-spirited misers, this doesn't come as a surprise to me. In fact, it's consistent with my image of a true Conservative.

As I see it, a Conservative believes that government, for the most part, doesn't work! If something doesn't work, why pay money into it? A Conservative believes that they can do more with their money than the government can. While Liberals rely on the government to solve the problems of society, the Conservative looks for ways they can help, rather than relying on someone else to get it done. This is where charitable giving comes in. Conservatives look for charities that most align with the causes they are passionate about and then they help those causes with their time and money.

Typically, these are charities in their own community, such as churches, museums, nature centers, youth programs, etc., etc., etc. While these types of organizations don't garner national attention, they are important to every community nationwide.

This is one of the toughest things about being a Conservative. It's very easy to see a problem and say "that's horrible, the government should really do something about that." It's much harder to see a problem and say "that's horrible, how can I help to fix this" because when you say that you're committing your time and your money. When you put it on the government you are committing someone else's time and money. I think this is why Conservatism is so much harder to sell than Liberalism.

Anyway, that's the long rambling way around debunking the notion that Conservatives are greedy misers who would put their own grandmother on the street if it helped them earn a buck. We really are a charitable people, as the study by Mr. Brooks clearly demonstrates. So, the next time you hear the media or a Liberal portraying a Conservative as a cold-hearted sack of garbage, remember it's all lies and propaganda.