Private Philanthropy is Bad for Socialism
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Posted: 01/24/08
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Private Philanthropy is Bad for Socialism
By Thomas E. Brewton
The New York Times is distressed that private philanthropists can
give money to any charity they choose.
Only a socialistic Federal government is capable, says the Times,
of making wise decisions about dispensing money to achieve social justice.
"The flip side of American private largess is the stinginess of the
public sector. Philanthropic contributions in the United States -
about $300 billion in 2006 - probably exceed those of any other
country. By contrast, America's tax take is nearly the lowest in the
industrial world. Federal, state and local tax collections amount to
just more than 25.5 percent of the nation's economic output. The
Finnish government collects 48.8 percent. As a result, the United
States spends less on social programs than virtually every other rich
industrial country, according to the Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development. The Finnish government probably has
money to build children's health clinics.
"Critics of government spending argue that America's private sector
does a better job making socially necessary investments. But it
doesn't. Public spending is allocated democratically among competing
demands. Rich benefactors can spend on anything they want, and they
tend to spend on projects close to their hearts."
The real point, of course, is not that private philanthropists
misplace their donations. The point is to move the United States
farther toward what Hilaire Belloc called The Servile State and
Friedrich Hayek called The Road to Serfdom.
True socialism of the kind lovingly promoted by the New York Times
requires that all economic resources of the nation be collectively
controlled by government ownership or by regulation. Social justice
being defined as equality of income, the Federal government must
roughly double income taxes to bring the United States up to par with
other socialist nations.
The Democratic Party's presidential candidates, all liberal-
progressive-socialists, have not explicitly acknowledged that goal,
but Senator Hillary Clinton's recent pronouncements ( http://
www.thomasbrewton.com/index.php/weblog/
maladjusted_managed_economies/ ) make clear the direction in which
she intends to head if elected.
Thomas E. Brewton is a staff writer for the New Media Alliance, Inc.
The New Media Alliance is a non-profit (501c3) national coalition of
writers, journalists and grass-roots media outlets.
His weblog is THE VIEW FROM 1776
http://www.thomasbrewton.com/
Email comments to viewfrom1776@thomasbrewton.com
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