Arthur Brooks: Conservatives More Generous Than Libs
From Beliefnet.com (HT NewsBusters), about the Syracuse University economist’s upcoming book, “Who Really Cares?”:
The book’s basic findings are that 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.
Conversely, secular liberals who believe fervently in government entitlement programs give far less to charity. They want everyone’s tax dollars to support charitable causes and are reluctant to write checks to those causes, even when governments don’t provide them with enough money.
Such an attitude, he writes, not only shortchanges the nonprofits but also diminishes the positive fallout of giving, including personal health, wealth and happiness for the donor and overall economic growth.
All of this, he said, he backs up with statistical analysis.
“These are not the sort of conclusions I ever thought I would reach when I started looking at charitable giving in graduate school, 10 years ago,” he writes in the introduction. “I have to admit I probably would have hated what I have to say in this book.”
Still, he says it forcefully, pointing out that liberals give less than conservatives in every way imaginable, including volunteer hours and donated blood.
In an interview, Brooks said he recognizes the need for government entitlement programs, such as welfare. But in the book he finds fault with all sorts of government social spending, including entitlements.
This shouldn’t be a total surprise. Annual surveys of giving by state tell us that Red Staters are more generous than Blue Staters as a percentage of income. The latest evidence of that is 2005’s Generosity Index (HT Willisms). Nine of the Top 10 are red: WY, UT, TN, TX, AR, MS, AL, OK, SD, NY.
But the myth will persist that those who want to force people to be “charitable” through the tax system are somehow more “compassionate.” Go figure.
I don’t like the way that the generosity index is calculated. I don’t itemize any of my charitable contributions. This isn’t accounted for in the index. Having said that, we “yankee” states are notorious for being stingy, but isn’t that what conservatives want? Increased savings and capital investment by Americans reduce the inflows of foreign cash and ultimately, American debt.
Comment by Kevin irwin — November 20, 2006 @ 10:21 am
#1, you have more points at work than I can hope to answer. So I’ll stick to one — I think that those who give more to charity would argue that they are more confident that the money will be effectively used with relatively little overhead, something charitable efforts routed throught the govt. have a tough time claiming.
Comment by TBlumer — November 20, 2006 @ 11:48 am