Consider these two approaches to reducing poverty: (1) asking people to give up resources in the true spirit of charitable giving; (2) taking away people’s resources and distributing them to lower socioeconomic classes.

Example of approach 1.
The City of Enoch and 1st century AD Book of Mormon people are excellent examples of number 1. Those people willingly gave of their resources to help the poor and needy.

Example of approach 2.
Political socialism (i.e., taking tax dollars from the higher socioeconomic classes and redistributing it to lower classes).

The first approach is praiseworthy; the second is pernicious, which is why Ezra Taft Benson wrote: “I fear for the future when . . . governments have used and are using American tax money to pay for socialism” (Elder Ezra Taft Benson, BYU Speeches of the Year, 1963).

So the big questions is: “Why do government administrations look to expanding social welfare programs when dealing with lower class poverty? Shouldn’t the help largely come from charitable giving? I think the answer is that some political leaders want to expand social welfare because they are crappy givers themselves, and as such, they cannot imagine others giving generously.

Ready to be surprised?
 

Think about how much money you gave in charitable donations last year. If you paid an honest tithe then you gave at least 10%. Care to guess what percentage of Vice President Joe Biden’s income went to charity over the last 10 years?
Not 12%
Not 10%
If you thought 5%, you’re wrong.
And not even 2%
Over the last decade, 0.2% of the Vice President’s income went to charity. But wait, there’s more! That 0.2% translates into just $369 dollars per year.

Unfortunately we find the same sort of thing with the President. Before running for political office, what percent of Obama's income went to charitable donations?
Not 10%
Not even 5%
If you thought at least 3.5% you’re wrong.
And not even 2%
Before running for the senate and White House, about 1% of Obama’s income went to charity. Okay, we'll give him credit for giving slightly more when it became politically expedient to do so.

Personal charitable donations are not a political issue. There are plenty of generous and not so generous givers on both sides of the political spectrum. My point is simply this: It should come as no surprise that politicians who are themselves stingy givers would want to expand social welfare programs. Why? Because they can’t imagine others giving generously. In their minds the only way to provide for the haves nots is to forcibly take from the haves.  

Our country needs a spirit of charitable giving, not a spirit of spreading the wealth.

Sources: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/26/us/politics/26taxes.html 
http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/2008-09-12-biden-financial_N.htm


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