Friday, November 17, 2006

Tell us something we don't already know

This will come as no surprise to Boopchile and frappeur:

It's in, and it's official: conservatives are more generous than liberals; those on the right are more generous than those on the left.

The book, "Who Really Cares: The Surprising Truth About Compassionate Conservatism" (Basic Books, $26), is due for release Nov. 24.

Here are some of the main points:

* Religious conservatives donate far more money than secular liberals to all sorts of charitable activities, irrespective of income.

* Conservatives who practice religion, live in traditional nuclear families and reject the notion that the government should engage in income redistribution are the most generous Americans, by any measure.

* Liberals give less than conservatives in every way imaginable, including volunteer hours and donated blood.

Don't you just love the phrases: "irrespective of income", "by any measure", "in every way imaginable"!

The article, referenced in the Drudge Report, is written by a researcher with a liberal background who was surprised by the results. To read it go to:

http://www.beliefnet.com/story/204/story_20419_1.html

3 comments:

Unknown said...

We know concervatives are generous, but we also know liberals are generous, but with other people's money.

So what's new?

Betty G

frappeur said...

It's easy to explain. Liberals think the government should pay for everything. They are entitled to their entitlements.

They forget who has to pay for the government.

Boopchile has it exactly right.

Socialists claim they are compassionate. They want to do good deeds as long as it's with someone else's money.

Pierre Trudeau was very generous with the public purse but he was famously tight-fisted with his own money.

In this video Milton Friedman explains how we are much more careful with our own money than with someone else's. (warning the video is 30 minutes long)

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6813529239937418232&q=milton+friedman

Conservatives use their own funds to support projects they perceive as valuable. Liberals would rather coerce others to pay and then play fast and loose with the money.

frappeur said...

Do the stereotypers have it all wrong?

Check David Frum's article:

http://www.canada.com/components/print.aspx?id=22df10a3-ff6b-4ee9-8900-a04a255b0e7f

"... nothing intellectually compelling or challenging.. bald assertions coupled to superstition... woefully pathetic"