Get government out of the charity business ~ By Star Parker

Star Parker to lawmakers: Don't try to fix programs, just end them

According to a 2012 Congressional Research Service report and the staff of Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., who commissioned the report, combined annual federal and state spending on anti-poverty programs exceeds $ 1 trillion. About 75 percent comes from the federal government.

These funds, which include programs such as welfare, food stamps, low-income housing programs, child-care assistance, etc. are programs that mostly came onto the American scene with the War on Poverty and, in that they are focused on helping the less fortunate, are what it is usually considered charity.

These programs are notoriously wasteful and are too often counterproductive and motivated by political gain rather than genuine desire to really help people.

Funds extracted from taxpayers, dispensed by bureaucrats, under rules and conditions designed by other bureaucrats, remove personal responsibility from both the giving and receiving ends of the equation.

Without any doubt in my mind, Star Parker explains what the problem is, and how to solve it, all in one column.  Poverty itself is not the problem.  Handing out entitlements has only enabled the recipients to bring about generational poverty.  The ambition to get oneself off of the poverty train by their own efforts has been replaced by a willingness to accept handouts. 

Our Founding Fathers understood that concept.  They had no intention of creating a government so willing to become the charity for the people.  The Founders understood the true concept of charity where people who have prospered would willingly contribute to the well-being of all citizens in need.  They knew that real charity was not a forced-giving program through taxes confiscated from a portion of income.  Americans, they knew, had love in their hearts, and wouldn't let people simply starve to death.

By all means, the statement by the farmer to Davy Crockett was what should have been remembered: “You will very easily perceive what a wide door this would open for fraud and favoritism and corruption, on the one hand, and robbing the people on the other.” That's an intelligent analysis by the farmer, but I wish he would added,"But once the government becomes a charity, it will never be able to be reversed, just like the income tax. (Not even with a Republican Congress!?)"

As Star so aptly put it a week ago:

One of President Ronald Reagan’s most famous quips was that the nine most terrifying words in the English language are “I’m from the government, and I’m here to help.”

It is indeed sad that America today is plagued, indeed threatened, by the very institution it invented to protect its own citizens:  Government.

It wouldn't be so dismal to think about the future of America if a few more people were aware of this.  There could still be hope, but I'm not holding my breath, not even with the Republican landslide in the 2014 Midterm election  Just sayin'...

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Get government out of the charity business

Star Parker

By Star Parker

Published: December 12, 2014

From wnd.com Commentary

The story is told that when Tennessee frontiersman Davy Crockett served in the U.S. Congress (between 1827 and 1835) he voted for a bill appropriating $20,000 for relief for victims of a fire that broke out in Georgetown.

When he returned home, a constituent farmer chastised him for supporting the bill and for “giving what is not yours to give.”

The farmer told Crockett the Constitution does not grant Congress the power to give charity, and if it did, “You will very easily perceive what a wide door this would open for fraud and favoritism and corruption, on the one hand, and robbing the people on the other.”

We are far from those days. Supreme Court decisions over the years have opened the door for rationalizing just about anything under the spending authority of the Congress.

Those who crafted the U.S. Constitution did not intend limitations on the federal government’s role out of mean-spiritedness. They did so out of a sense of what would best serve the public.

It stands to reason that bureaucrats spending other people’s money – funds taken by force – is not going to produce good results.

~~~ READ MORE on wnd.com Commentary ~~~

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As an additional feature here on Blogging In Our Time 2 Escape, this blog will be including videos that have been posted on the johnny2k's America Facebook page! Videos can sometimes say more than what can be expressed in text.  Be sure to visit the archive with hundreds of videos to peruse.

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Liberals give till it hurts (you) ~ By Ann Coulter

Let me start you out with the introduction to the column. Ann writes:

Liberals never tire of discussing their own generosity, particularly when demanding that the government take your money by force to fund shiftless government employees overseeing counterproductive government programs.

They seem to have replaced "God" with "Government" in scriptural phrases such as "love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind" (Matthew 22:37).

This week, we'll take a peek at the charitable giving of these champions of the poor.

In her column this week, Ann Coulter explores the charitable giving habits of the very politicians that so compassionately desire your money to help the poor. I've skipped through all of the details of who (Democrats) gave how much money in the paragraphs that I've excerpted, but I promise, it is in her column that you can read in full.

UPDATE, December 30, 2010:

This segment with John Stossel was on Fox & Friends this morning, just hours after I had posted this column.

John Stossel: Who does the charitable giving? It might surprise you!

Video provided by TheREALjohnny2k

Liberals give till it hurts (you)

ANN COULTER

By Ann Coulter

December 29, 2010 ~ 5:58 pm Eastern

© 2010

The only way to pry a liberal from his money is to hold ticker-tape parades for him, allowing him to boast about his charity in magazines and on TV.

Isn't that what Jesus instructed in the Sermon on the Mount?

"So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do. ... But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you" (Matthew 6:2-4).

In my Bible, that passage is illustrated with a photo of Bill Gates and Warren Buffett.

At least the hypocrites in the Bible, Redmond, Wash., and Omaha, Neb., who incessantly brag about their charity actually do pony up the money.

Elected Democrats crow about how much they love the poor by demanding overburdened taxpayers fund government redistribution schemes, but can never seem to open their own wallets.

The only evidence we have that Democrats love the poor is that they consistently back policies that will create more of them.

READ FULL STORY at WorldNetDaily.com

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Scrooge was a liberal ~ By Ann Coulter

6 Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. 7 Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8 And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. 9 As it is written:

"They have freely scattered their gifts to the poor; their righteousness endures forever."

2 Corinthians 9:6-9 (NIV)

Ann Coulter explains why Conservative Christians give more money to charities than secular liberals. Liberals try to cite the Bible "to demand the redistribution of income by government force." And what the liberals don't bother to tell you is that our taxes don't really go to "the poor." Actually, our taxes end up going mostly "to government employees who make more money than you do."


Scrooge was a liberal

ANN COULTER

By Ann Coulter

December 22, 2010 ~ 5:51 pm Eastern

© 2010

It's the Christmas season, so godless liberals are citing the Bible to demand the redistribution of income by government force. Didn't Jesus say, "Blessed are the Health and Human Services bureaucrats, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven"?

Liberals are always indignantly accusing conservatives of claiming God is on our side. What we actually say is: We're on God's side, particularly when liberals are demanding God's banishment from the public schools, abortion on demand, and taxpayer money being spent on Jesus submerged in a jar of urine and pictures of the Virgin Mary covered with pornographic photos.

But for liberals like Al Franken, it's beyond dispute that Jesus would support extending federal unemployment insurance.

This has absolutely nothing to do with the Bible, but it does nicely illustrate Shakespeare's point that the "devil can cite Scripture for his purpose."

What the Bible says about giving to the poor is: "Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver" (2 Corinthians 9:7).

Being forced to pay taxes under penalty of prison is not voluntary and rarely done cheerfully. Nor do our taxes go to "the poor." They mostly go to government employees who make more money than you do.

The reason liberals love the government redistributing money is that it allows them to skip the part of charity that involves peeling the starfish off their wallets and forking over their own money. This, as we know from study after study, they cannot bear to do (unless they are guaranteed press conferences where they can brag about their generosity).

Syracuse University professor Arthur Brooks' study of charitable giving in America found that conservatives give 30 percent more to charity than liberals do, despite the fact that liberals have higher incomes than conservatives.

READ FULL STORY at WorldNetDaily.com

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The fall of our nation ~ By Patrice Lewis

I read Patrice Lewis' column with some sadness. It was very reflective of how I had been feeling about the things that she wrote about.

The column that Patrice wrote, as you will notice, was posted very early Saturday morning, August 28, 2010. Yes, that date, 8/28/2010, will mean something to many that will read this commentary. That is because on that day, on a beautiful August morning in our nation's capital, at the feet of the Abraham Lincoln Memorial, things began to change for many, many thousands of people. And for me. No, I wasn't there, but I was able to watch the "Restoring Honor" Rally in real time on my computer.

To make sure you will understand what I'll be discussing next, please watch the following short video:

Restoring Honor - Be the Change!

Video provided by RestoringHonorRally

The first words you will read in the blockquote below are: "The people who are fired up and ready to do something are fighting more than just their government. They're also fighting the collective spiritual sickness of millions of dumbed-down, apathetic sheeple who assume the government's role is to catch them when they fall or support them when they're down..." And did you just notice the words that I emphasized in bold? And were you aware that was exactly what the "Restoring Honor" rally was all about?

Glenn Beck became aware of that collective spiritual sickness over the last few years, and he is fighting that very affliction in our nation with great passion. The path that Glenn has been taking over the last few months, maybe even the last year, has been to get people to renew their spirit and their belief in America's greatness. And it's working.

Please, oh please, keep that in mind as you read Patrice's column today. I know that it so very easy these days to perceive that there is no possible way to change the direction this country has been going. I know, as I mentioned at the beginning of this piece, that I had been feeling that way. On 8/28/10, I finally began to believe that the direction we can take this country CAN change. It is going to take a lot of Faith. It means that we are going to have to get our heads out of the sand, and begin the process that may take generations. But it has to start somewhere at some point in time. It might as well start right now! Just sayin'...

The people who are fired up and ready to do something are fighting more than just their government. They're also fighting the collective spiritual sickness of millions of dumbed-down, apathetic sheeple who assume the government's role is to catch them when they fall or support them when they're down. The sheeple really don't give a rip about whether the federal government becomes a nanny state. This is just the kind of apathy the nanny state loves, so it's encouraged.

It was Alexander Tytler who noted, "The average age of the world's greatest civilizations has been 200 years. These nations have progressed through this sequence: from bondage to spiritual faith; from spiritual faith to great courage; from courage to liberty; from liberty to abundance; from abundance to selfishness; from selfishness to complacency; from complacency to apathy; from apathy to dependence; from dependency back again into bondage."

Perhaps this is just the natural evolution of things. Perhaps we're in the autumn of our nation. While I can't say for certain, it sure is beginning to feel like fall.

By Patrice Lewis

Posted: August 28, 2010 ~ 1:00 am Eastern

© 2010

Every time I read the news, the headlines get worse. Housing starts down, the stock market down, inflation this, unemployment that … It got my husband to wondering, why is the overall attitude in America as bad as it is?

Before you give a knee-jerk answer of "Because I'm unemployed, stupid!" or some such equally valid (but cursory) reply, hear me out.

There seems to be a curious apathy rampant in our country lately. Our overall attitude is lethargic, almost indifferent to the actions of our government.

We see astounding new threats to our liberties daily. Government agents can legally sneak onto your property and put a GPS tracking device on your car without you knowing about it. The EPA is petitioning to ban lead bullets as a back-door way to reduce the availability of ammunition. Rep. Pete Stark smugly admits at a town-hall meeting that "the federal government can do most anything in this country." And sadly, he's right.

Where's the outrage? The abuse of power has far surpassed the abuses of power imposed by King George III prior to the Revolutionary War. Yet most people merely yawn and say, "I wonder what's on TV tonight?" We're witnessing things that 40 years ago would have had people marching in the streets. And when people do march in the streets, millions strong, the government yawns and goes fishing.

So people are giving up. They're giving up the expectations that their children will ever have the success or stability of their parents' generation. The old formula of working hard and succeeding doesn't seem to work any more, so why try? Why not just let the government take care of us?

But even this attitude is more the symptom than the disease. For people to actually think that their children will never have it as good, they have to have made a tremendous mental shift. It's not so much, "My children will never have it as good," it's more like "We're not as good."

You can delve into nuts and bolts of why we're heading into socialism all you want, but none of those things could happen if a spirit of optimism and individuality were still intact in this country. But that spirit is eroding and almost gone. Our pride in being Americans is dissolving. When the president of the United States says, "Yes, we're exceptional, but so is every other country," then it indicates the certainty of America's greatness is evaporating.

READ FULL STORY at WorldNetDaily.com

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