Stingy Liberals- A Moral Justification for Selfishness

The Left constantly exclaims that Republicans are greedy. For example John Kenneth Galbraith once said, "The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness."  Are these liberals correct? Are Republicans searching for a reason to justify their own personal greediness? Should conservatives look to their moral superiors, ie. liberals, as to how to become more generous, selfless individuals?

This argument by the left is false in so many ways it is difficult to know where to begin.  First off, liberals are extremely stingy in their charitable giving.  They are, in fact, only generous with other people’s money.  They feel that all one has to do in order to be a charitable person is put a checkmark next to all the names marked D on a ballot.  That’s it; if you do this, you are now morally superior to a conservative who donates more of his own money and his own time.  Who is the one that is on “the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness?”

Just for the sake of another argument let’s assume that liberals are correct and the IRS is in fact the world’s largest charity organization.  When we pay our taxes to Uncle Sam, and when we vote for politicians who want to raise our taxes lets consider that action to be the pinnacle of being a charitable person. Liberals perform their one charitable act every year inside a ballot box. Do they do so expecting to pay more in taxes themselves? No. Obama is constantly saying he will cut taxes for the middle class, and he only wants to raise taxes on the top 2-3% of income earners.  So unless you’re in that top 2-3% you are not even planning on contributing more of your own money. Liberals are very generous with other people’s money.  How noble of them.

The following story illustrates the hypocrisy of the left. In a campaign speech in March, Obama was lecturing on the morality of higher taxes on the rich and other mumbo jumbo.  In this speech Obama invokes a biblical phrase about ‘being our brother’s keeper.’  We won’t worry about the biblical context of the phrase as Obama did not specifically mention the Bible, but lets look at being our brother’s keeper.The following couple paragraphs are from a Fox News opinion piece by Dinesh D’Souza.

“A few days ago I received a call from a man I recently met named George.  He was a bit flustered, and soon informed me that his young son was sick with a chest condition.  He pleaded with me to send him $1,000 to cover the medical bills.  Since George was at the hospital I asked him to let me speak to a nurse, and she confirmed that George’s son was indeed ill.  So I agreed to send George the money through Western Union.  He was profusely grateful.  But before I hung up I asked George, “Why are you coming to me?”  He said, “I have no one else to ask.”  Then he said something that astounded me, “Dinesh, you are like a brother to me.”

“Actually, George has a real life brother who just happens to be the President of the United States. (George Obama is the youngest of eight children sired by Barack Obama Sr.)  George’s brother is a multimillionaire and the most powerful man in the world.  Moreover, George’s brother has framed his re-election campaign around the “fair share” theme that we owe obligations to those who are less fortunate.  

“One of Obama’s favorite phrases comes right out of the Bible: “We are our brother’s keeper.”  Yet he has not contributed a penny to help his own brother. And evidently George does not believe, even in times of emergency, that he can turn to his brother in the White House for help.

“So much for “spreading the wealth around”.”

And don’t even get me started on Joe Biden.