Government as Charity

   Lately, President Obama has been talking about how important it is that we ought to care about our brothers and sisters in need.  I agree with the President on this one.  However, I disagree with him on how that care ought to be put into action.  Liberals in this country, as well as the President, think that the Federal government is the agency which should be providing the care for the needy.  In other words, they consider the government to be a giant charitable organization.  The big difference is that contributions to this charity are mandatory.  I, on the other hand, see churches as being the primary agency to be involved in the care of the needy.
   One thing is obvious to me.  The US Constitution does not describe the government as a charitable agency.  I do not see any place in the Constitution where it describes how it should be taking care of people, other than to protect the rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  Historically, the time when the government became a charity seems to have taken place during the administration of FDR when the government became involved in such things as the New Deal and Social Security.  Once that precedent had been set, it opened the door to many other government programs that had goals of helping the needy.  The latest example of this is Obamacare.  While it may sound wonderful to say that we have such a caring government, these kinds of programs also carry with them the loss of our freedoms.  The government is taking more and more control of our lives.  They also encourage irresponsibility. Another aspect of this dilemma is that government has been shown to be a lousy manager of these charitable programs.
   I am aware of several studies which have been done over the years which show that there is quite a bit of difference between the giving habits of liberals and conservatives.  All of the studies show that conservatives are more charitable in their giving than liberals.  I think there is a basic reason for this.  Liberals want the government to be a charity and therefore consider their taxes to be their charitable contributions.  Conservatives have the opposite opinion.  They believe the government should be limited to the powers given to it in the Constitution and do not view their taxes as charitable contributions.  They consider their charitable giving to be to other agencies which are caring for the needs of others.
   Another insidious aspect of this is the fact that liberal party, the Democratic Party, consists of a larger percentage of the people who are recipients of the government's charitable help.  In other words, their party likes the idea of the government being a charity, while the conservatives, the Republican Party, who do not consider the government to be a charity, become the ones who provide the funds to support this giant charity.
   The huge problem is how to get us out of this mess without tearing our country apart.  But we must.  Otherwise, this country will no longer continue as the great country it has been.  I do know this. The current efforts to drive a wedge between the rich and the poor is not going to heal our nation.  Also, if we do manage to get the government out of the charity business, religious organizations are going to have to step up boldly to provide for the needs of the poor.