We had dinner with some friends the other night. One of them has led me to a few blogs and podcasts that I really enjoy. He asked if I read Tim Stephens blog and because I hadn't, I checked it out. In particular he was directing me here. This post is about the political candidates and their charitable giving. Let me just say, I wanted to puke when I read the statistics. Joe Biden gave less than $1,000 to charity in 2007 and he makes more than $300,000. Barack Obama gave less than 1% prior to 2005 when he began his run for president. Sarah Palin didn't do much better, she gave an average of 2.4% during 2006 and 2007 as told here. John McCain gave in excess of 25% of his income to charity in 2007, which is on the other side of the coin and pretty amazing.
Obama wants to raise taxes on those who make more than $250,000 and redistribute that to the the less fortunate. Why should there be a government mandate on charitable giving when he and Senator Biden give very little of their money away? If they get to choose not to give their money away, why should those who make more than $250,000 essentially be forced to give their money away? Why should the person who has worked hard to get where they are be forced to give their money away?
I certainly believe that we are called to help the poor. I just feel that we should be free to choose who, what, and when we give our money.
Until next time...
1 comment:
Thanks for that Jeremy. I totally agree with you. I think the bad rap Republicans get with regard to being stingy with their money, not wanting to help the poor, etc. is probably well-deserved in some cases, but what you wrote about is the other side of the issue. We are called to help the poor as believers, but that doesn't mean I need to trust the government to do that for me.
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