Democrats want to tax you so that they can then engage in state managed, centrally planned, charity. Conservatives, Libertarians, and some Republicans object to this for more reasons than I can enumerate here but here is one example worth considering…
As the coercive power of the state will alone decide who is to have what, the only power worth having will be a share in the exercise of this directing power. There will be no economic or social questions that would not be political questions in the sense that their solution will depend exclusively on who wields the coercive power, on whose are the views that will prevail on all occasions.
-F. A. Hayek
Democrats want the government to decide. And once they start, there is little that will not eventually fall under the gaze and control of the state. And so, they feel very comfortable engaging in class warfare rhetoric to correct this problem, because taxes–to them–are the benchmark of other peoples charity (except their own, of course). And they “do not approve,” can not approve, of people engaging in charity the state does not control becasue most Americans give based on a set of values that Democrats do not share.
So how does Mitt Romney fit into this?
Mr. Romney is paying about 14% of his annual income in taxes then directing—on his own, without the help of bureaucrats–another 43.8% of his income to charities and causes he and his wife find worthy. The end result is that the Romney’s give away 57.9% of their income.
I highly doubt that there are any rich liberals who can compete with that. And I can almost guarantee there are not any elected Democrats that could. But they don’t care. He didn’t give it to Planned parenthood. He didn’t give it to Solyndra. He didn’t give it to left wing causes, or policy priorities. he directed his giving on his own.
So giving away 58% of your annual income won’t count. Not to Democrats. But it should count to you and I because here is a man who is is in helping his country and bypassing the corrosive (inefficient and ineffective) power of the state. He is using his success in the free market to help charities that he believes make the best use of his donations, toward issues that are important to him.
And…Romney didn’t even declare all the private contributions he made…even though the law would have allowed him to.
Character. And he is not alone. The Koch brothers donate millions to charity every year. But unless Democrats can control and direct it, they’ll wield class warfare and demand higher taxes… so that they can accumulate the power and then control who gets state managed charity.
