Punishing Conservatives

Last year I quoted a George Will column regarding how conservatives give much more to charity. This is from from that column:

Sixteen months ago, Arthur C. Brooks, a professor at Syracuse University, published "Who Really Cares: The Surprising Truth About Compassionate Conservatism." The surprise is that liberals are markedly less charitable than conservatives.

-- Although liberal families' incomes average 6 percent higher than those of conservative families, conservative-headed households give, on average, 30 percent more to charity than the average liberal-headed household ($1,600 per year vs. $1,227).

-- Conservatives also donate more time and give more blood.

-- Residents of the states that voted for John Kerry in 2004 gave smaller percentages of their incomes to charity than did residents of states that voted for George Bush.

-- Bush carried 24 of the 25 states where charitable giving was above average.

-- In the 10 reddest states, in which Bush got more than 60 percent majorities, the average percentage of personal income donated to charity was 3.5. Residents of the bluest states, which gave Bush less than 40 percent, donated just 1.9 percent.

Anyone familiar with the charitable giving of say...Al Gore before and when he was Vice President compared to Vice President Dick Cheney can't help but be struck by the difference:

In a 34-page 1997 federal tax return, Vice President Al Gore and wife Tipper reported giving $353 to charity. In 1992, aided by the royalties of Gore's book, "Earth In The Balance," the couple donated $52,558. Most of that -- $50,000 -- went to the University of Tennessee to endow a chair in memory of Gore's late sister.

VP DickCheney on the other hand:

In one of the largest sums ever donated to charity by a U.S. public official, Vice President Dick Cheney and his wife Lynne gave away nearly $7 million last year to help the poor and to medical research.

Obama released his tax returns from 2000-2006 when running for President:

..the Obamas gave far less than 1% of their income to charity; in three of the years, they gave around 1% of their income to charity.

John McCain in comparison:

In 2006, Mr. McCain said he had $358414 in total income and donated $64695, or 18 percent of his total income, to charity.

It's an amazing difference, isn't it?

We conservatives believe in "spreading the wealth" as well, we just want to do it ourselves and not let the government waste it or spend our money on things we are morally opposed to.

It's quite clear that conservatives are more generous when it comes to charity.

So.... is it no surprise that Pres. Obama proposal to change tax policy that will reduce the tax deduction on charitable giving is really aimed at conservatives?

Pres. Obama really is ingenious in his 40 different ways of taxing "the rich." But successful people didn't get there by being stupid or foolish with their money.

Successful people are generous with their money. That is clear. But class warfare and punishing the rich has never and will never work.