Liberals are Stingy

What a shocker!

Years ago I was President of the PTA of the Catholic school my children attended. I had the power to decide what programs to implement and what to cut. It gave me a bit of an insight into Congress, but a really good insight into liberals. When you are the one deciding where money goes, suddenly you feel like the benevolent one. It's not your money, so giving generously is easy and feels quite good.

I have found that liberals see themselves as "compassionate" as long as they are fighting for the greater good with other people's money. I remember when they published what Al Gore gave to charity when he was Vice President and I just couldn't believe how much more my family gave. I'm sure he justified it to himself by thinking, "look at how much I do for environmental causes!"

As the NYT points out:

Arthur Brooks, the author of a book on donors to charity, “Who Really Cares,” cites data that households headed by conservatives give 30 percent more to charity than households headed by liberals. A study by Google found an even greater disproportion: average annual contributions reported by conservatives were almost double those of liberals.

This doesn't surprise me. Liberals tend to think that the mere act of voting for someone who claims to help the poor is the equivalent of giving. Where conservatives actually see helping the poor themselves as the way to go.

It's not just in financial ways that conservatives are more generous:

Conservatives also appear to be more generous than liberals in nonfinancial ways. People in red states are considerably more likely to volunteer for good causes, and conservatives give blood more often. If liberals and moderates gave blood as often as conservatives, Mr. Brooks said, the American blood supply would increase by 45 percent.

Isn't it interesting is the truth is so far from the perception?

h/t BigDog