I was listening to NPR the other day (September 24) and they were interviewing a congressman from California. Because a constituent had recently called him to say that he was afraid to go to the doctor because he didn’t have health insurance and didn’t know how he would pay for it, this congressman was conflicted about what to do with the proposed $700 billion bailout bill. He bemoaned the fact that he couldn’t help but think that perhaps instead of spending the $700 billion on the bailout, the money should go toward providing health insurance to people such as his constituent. You could hear the guilt in the congressman’s voice. For some reason he really felt that it was his responsibility as a public servant to provide the money to pay this man’s medical bills.
This reminded me of de Tocqueville’s warning about what would happen when the citizens realize that they can vote themselves largess from the public treasury. I couldn’t help but wonder how James Madison would have responded if a farmer from Virginia had proposed that he (Madison) should, as his elected representative, see to it that he (the farmer) is able to pay his doctor bills. He might have said, “I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents.” He then may have summed up his view by saying, “Charity is no part of the legislative duty of the government.”
The man without health insurance reminds me of those people who periodically call the church office looking for a handout. Now don’t get me wrong, we recognize our Christian duty to help the needy. But when they act as though we are required to help them because we are Christians, they have just shut off our bowels of compassion. The Bible says that God loves a cheerful giver. But how many people cheerfully give their hard-earned money to the government so that it can be doled out to their needy neighbors. Requiring the citizenry to turn their money over to Uncle Sam under compulsion for charitable causes is antithetical to the American way.
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And the over-intrusiveness of the federal government only harms charitable giving. I've often asked myself why I should give to a particular charity, especially the more left-leaning charities like the United Way, when so much of my tax money already goes to "the poor," "the needy," and "the elderly." Also, as we've seen with Obama's and terrorist bomber Bill Ayers' Chicago Annenberg Challenge, charitable foundation money often ends up in the hands of hard-core leftists, who seek the destruction of the institutions of our society and hate this country.
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