Jul 26 2008
It’s The Government’s Fault, Sort Of
Pushing Help on Flood Victims (Cato-at-liberty)
Libertarians often talk about the possibility of private charity picking up the slack for reduced government welfare. Statists scoff at such notions, pointing to the weakness of local community and cultural institutions today. The charge rings true, but the reason, if this is the case, is not that the American character is weak and that it casually ceded responsibility to government. It’s because government largesse is an insidious, attacking organism that goes right for the fibers and joints of civil society to draw down their strength and make them arthritic.
I found this quote to be quite insightful. I believe that more private charity is necessary, and here is one reason why it doesn’t exist. The government will spend your money before a charitable organization has time to jump in, all too often.
So if we are to be salt and light, and to move true charity into our communities, we’re going to have to be aggressive, bold, quick, and competitive. We’ll have to find ways to get ahead of jimmy gummint in the race to do good, so that true good will actually be done.
