http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/...se-compassion/
Last week on CNN I debated a liberal commentator who complained that the problem with the Trump budget blueprint is that it lacks “compassion” for the poor, children and the disabled. This woman went on to ask me how I could defend a budget that would cut Meals on Wheels, after-school programs, and special-ed funding, because without the federal dollars, these vital services would go away.
This ideology that the government action is a sign of compassion is upside down and contrary to the Christian notion of charity.
We all as individuals can and should act compassionately and charitably. We can volunteer our time, energy and dollars to help the underprivileged. We can feed the hungry and house the homeless. Most of us feel a moral and ethical responsibility to do so — to “do unto others.”
And we do fulfill that obligation as Americans more than the citizens of almost any other nation. All the international statistics show Americans are the most charitable and the most likely to engage in volunteerism to help those in need. Whenever there is an international crisis — an earthquake, a flood, a war — Americans provide more assistance than those of any other nation.
But government by its nature is not compassionate. It can’t be, because as George Washington reminded us, “Government is not reason, it is not eloquence, it is force,” and a “fearful master.” Government can only spend a dollar to help someone when it forcibly takes a dollar from someone else. At its core, government welfare is predicated on a false compassion. This isn’t to say that government should never take collective action to help people. But these actions are based on compulsion, not compassion.
Liberals are especially confused on this point. They believe that by supporting a government policy that takes money from one person and gives it to another is a sign of how compassionate and caring they are personally. It massages their consciences and egos.