OK all you liberals who go on and on about how heartless the conservatives, especially religious ones, are: why aren’t you giving more? According to Albert C. Brooks , secular liberals give less money to charities compared to conservatives who practice religion!
So, all of those evil “fundie” conservatives are willing to give to charities while the good, caring liberals don’t. Yet liberals are so quick to jump all over conservatives as being heartless and uncaring.
In some ways I am pretty conservative (when it comes to fiscal responsibility and defense) but I am more liberal socially (equal rights for all including same sex marriage, true equal pay). I give of my time and wallet to help various charities. And before you try claiming I do it for a tax write-off, while it is true I can and sometimes do declare my donations, more times than not I forget to get or lose my receipts so I can’t declare my donations of money, belongings or effects.
I want to know what the liberals on this board are actively doing to help out. I want to hear how you give. If you aren’t giving, then you shouldn’t be griping about what others are or aren’t doing. Put up or shut up, libs!
Well, maybe liberals don’t need to buy their way into heaven? 
I do think that it defeats the purpose of giving if you do it to throw it into other peoples faces. I’m sure the recipients of the charity couldn’t care less why you gave and it’s amazingly great that you gave but it certainly doesn’t make you look more moral or more good with that kind of ulterior motive.
This will sound like a cop out, but most of the big donors I know prefer to do it anonymously. It just doesn’t seem like charity if you are doing it for name recognition.
The article doesn’t give any substantive information on how he reached his conclusions, nothing suggests his studies are peer reviewed, so until I hear more, I’m assuming this guy is just making noise to sell a book. Not a bad idea actually - If I’d thought of it I’d have penned it myself. It’s a gaurenteed sell to the dittohead bunch.
For the record, I don’t consider myself a liberal, although all my conservative friends tell me I am. I’m not going to tell you how much I donate to charity; I will tell you that it’s far above the national average.
From the bottom of my heart, fuck you. You have no idea about the work I do, and more importantly, I don’t need your bullshit attempt to be provocative by lumping me in with people who you say don’t give as much. For all you know, the liberals on this board are just as generous, or more (who can say?) than the conservatives. You are asking Dopers to justify the actions of “liberals” as a whole. That makes no sense, and it’s fucking moronic. Shove it up your ass.
PS: Does Brooks’ work in any way account for differences in income?
Hey, I pledged $20 to PBS once!
But did you put the bumper sticker on your Volvo?
Waiting for the “My Kid Took Your Honor Student’s Lunch Money!” one to wear off.
I’m not saying I donate as a bragging right. I’m a nobody and I’m not going to get publicity or man of the year award for what I do. My donations of time and money are done out of concern for others. I hate that the world is unfair and that people suffer in many ways including drug abuse, discrimination, sexual and physical abuse and homelessness. I give what I can to help people out because I believe in the whole “do unto others” thing.
There are so many people on this board who are quick to talk about how uncaring conservatives are. They also expect the government to do more. Instead of giving my money to the government in the form of taxes and having some half-assed, screwed up bureaucracy attempt to help people who are in immediate need and then watch Uncle Sam take his time with a piss poor, lame and slow response (hello, FEMA!) I would rather give to a charity or group that will quickly move to help.
After Katrina, I gave money to the Red Cross and Salvation Army and gave food, clothes, furnishings, furniture and toys to local churches that were making runs to NOLA to help out. Because I couldn’t take time away from work to go down there and help, I did the next best thing and opened my home to a displaced family.
Are liberals really expecting our government, the same government they rip into for its incompetence in so many cases, to do more? Why don’t they give to charities?
Perhaps the fundies are noted as giving more because they use their “gifts” as tax write-offs. The dems give anonymously and don’t care about tax write-offs.
Makes as much sense as anything else yeah?
Hey, I don’t know you or what you do to give back or even if you do. For all I know you could be the person who anonymously drops gold coins into Salvation Army buckets every Christmas. Or you could be someone who just talks about how bad things are and wants the government to do more.
I don’t know what any of the liberal members of this board actively do to help out. I am asking because I see a lot of talk and would like to know if they back up the words with action. We have some of the brightest and most articulate people here. I would like to see that these people do things and not just say things. Their responses would be a sampling, albeit an extremely skewed one.
I bet that the liberal members of this board are just as giving as the conservatives. My gripe is with the people who bitch about “selfish” conservatives but aren’t willing to make a sacrifice themselves.
And, yes:
The article says the data came from surveys, not tax info. If you were asked on an anonymous survey what your political leanings are (liberal, moderate, conservative) and approximately how much you donate to charities each year, how does that lead to it being for tax purposes? Are you trying to imply that “fundies” only donate for selfish reasons? You don’t believe it is possible for religious conservatives to have altruistic motives? Or do liberals have the monopoly on goodwill and compassion? Except when it comes to conservatives of course.
I’m not going to answer for liberals but for me, I’m a cynic and I don’t really trust people to do the right thing all the time. I don’t like to trust people to do what we all know needs to be done.
That’s why I want to have laws in place that will force people to at least try to solve the issues. They aren’t going to get it perfect and yes, it will be inefficient but 1) they won’t stop charities from helping them and 2)it will insure that no matter what, something will be done and even if inefficient, some will get help.
Also, in my opinion, the answer would be to fight tooth and nail to increase the efficiency of the system rather than to eliminate the system. Fight fire with funding, not pull everything from the table and rely on the goodness of men because frankly, politics aside, the human race doesn’t really have that hot a track record for goodness.
I wonder if tithing and other donations to churches count? I don’t consider that charitable contribution, it’s more like dues to a club.
Now, if we’re talking surveys I’d think that someone who professes a religion would certainly be more inclined to state that they give to charities than someone who isn’t. Even anonymously, since there’d be a guilt feeling about the guy upstairs and I could see someone saying that they give and in their hearts saying “I’m going to start right now, God, honest” and hey, they probably mean it but it doesn’t mean that they have already given anything.
Yeah, but most rich folks donate to librarys, foundations, stuff like that, really hard to convert to cheap wine and drugs.
Thanks for your response! This is exactly what I was looking for (Sorry, Marley).
I never said that money should be pulled from the government. I pay my taxes every year and am glad there are some systems in place at a local, state and federal level. But, as anyone who has tried to deal with the government knows, they are slow and pitifully managed. I check out the charities I donate to and the groups I work with to make sure they are accused of committing fraud. There is no reason that I can see, outside of limited personal resources, that would prevent people from giving to charities.
If the church in question does charity work, why wouldn’t it count? A church I used to attend had a donation center for the St. Vincent de Paul Society that provided food and clothing to those in need. If I dropped off some clothes and gave them money, I think that would be considered giving to a charity. Just as all other charities have to use a certain percentage of the donated funds for administrative overhead, the same applies to churches. You can check the financial filings of the church to see how the money given at church services (passing the plate) is divided amongst administrative needs, charitable funds and so on.
are not accused of committing fraud.
Geez, I gotta go to bed because my fingers are fucking up.
Spoken like a true Re…
No, too easy.
The correction beat the cheap joke by mere milliseconds. 