Charity

Charity is not the responsibility of government; in fact, the government is incapable of being charitable. Government, by its nature, is coercive; therefore, true charity cannot flow from government because it is not voluntary. Any "charity" offered by the government must be established under a set of rules to prevent gross abuse. As a result, these programs immediately transform into entitlement programs rather than charity programs. With these programs, personal judgement is no longer allowed as to whether it is wise to give assistance to an individual; everything is reduced to whether the candidate meets certain qualifications. Everyone becomes a set of numbers and is de-humanized. As a result, we give entitlements to those who are able to work, while those going through truly difficult transitions are ignored.

We must take it upon ourselves to give to charity. I challenge every one of my supporters to give at least 10% of their income to charities of their choice. This may be through their local church, food pantry, etc. I also encourage them to donate their time to charity, preferably to the same charity where they donate their money; that way they will see how their money is being spent. Once again, the answer is through local efforts meeting the needs of people on human terms, not by simply writing a check to the government or some mega-charity in a non-personal manner. We must embrace our fellow human beings and realize the value that "even the least among us" provide to our society.