Syracuse University professor Arthur Brooks' new book on charitable giving in America is causing something of a stir, as it blows away some of the political Left's favorite stereotypes of conservatives. Jonah Goldberg comments on Brooks' research:
...basically, if you are religiously observant, a married parent, and skeptical toward the role of government, you are much more likely to be generous with your time and money.You’re also more likely to be a political conservative, but it’s a mistake to find causation in that correlation. Certain types of people are likely to be conservative and to be charitable. But being a conservative doesn’t make you charitable.
Still, the partisan ammo is what has interested the Bill O’Reilly types the most — and it is interesting, since it so directly contradicts the generations-old propaganda of the left, which depicts the rich right as stingy, unfeeling and selfish. “Blue state†America spends a lot of time talking about how much more caring and enlightened it is. But that’s with somebody else’s money. When it’s their own money, that’s a different story.
But Goldberg finds more interesting what Brooks' research demonstrates about America as a whole: (someone call Stern)
Our charitableness is a distinct cultural artifact. America’s simply a lot more generous than most other countries. Not counting government aid, we give, per capita, three and half times more than the French, seven times more than Germans, and 14 times more than the Italians.This is not merely a byproduct of our wealth. In fact, one of the most interesting observations of the book is that the most giving Americans, measured as a share of their income, are the working poor. The rich come second and the middle class last.
The difference lies in European attitudes toward God and state. Europeans have largely turned their backs on the former and consider the latter the answer to everything.
Europeans defend their comparative stinginess by claiming that their outsized welfare states, and the taxes they pay into them, amount to charity. Brooks demolishes these and related assertions. But the most basic response is this: Compelling payment by others through high taxes isn’t charity.
Related:
Jamie Glazov interviews the author at FPM.
K-Lo interviews Brooks for NRO.
Posted by dan at January 3, 2007 2:02 AM