Americans are pretty generous. Three-quarters of American families give to charity -- and those who do, give an average of $1,800. Of course that means one-quarter of us don't give at all. What distinguishes those who give from those who don't? It turns out there are many myths about that.(emphasis added)
To test them, ABC's "20/20" went to Sioux Falls, S.D., and San Francisco. We asked the Salvation Army to set up buckets at their busiest locations in both cities. Which bucket would get more money? I'll get to that in a minute.
San Francisco and Sioux Falls are different in some important ways. Sioux Falls is small and rural, and more than half the people go to church every week.
San Francisco is a much bigger and richer city, and relatively few people attend church. It is also known as a very liberal place, and since liberals are said to "care more" about the poor, you might assume people in San Francisco would give a lot.
But the idea that liberals give more is a myth. Of the top 25 states where people give an above-average percentage of their income, all but one (Maryland) were red -- conservative -- states in the last presidential election.
"When you look at the data," says Syracuse University professor Arthur Brooks, "it turns out the conservatives give about 30 percent more. And incidentally, conservative-headed families make slightly less money."
Researching his book, "Who Really Cares", Brooks found that the conservative/liberal difference goes beyond money:
"The people who give one thing tend to be the people who give everything in America. You find that people who believe it's the government's job to make incomes more equal, are far less likely to give their money away."
Conservatives are even 18 percent more likely to donate blood.
[More]
My Comments:
Demonstrating, once again, that the term "compassionate conservatism" is redundant.
Previous Pro Ecclesia posts on this subject:
Philanthropy Expert: Conservatives Are More Generous
I am defininitly gonna have to give ABC and especailly Stossel some credit for saying this and probably killing some sacred cows in the process.
ReplyDeleteI learned this lesson early from my father. We never had much money but all the essentials were met. Dad was quite conservative, one of his favorite sayings being "There ain't no such thing as a free lunch!".
ReplyDeleteOne day he was asked by an elderly widow who was a neighbor of ours to try and fix her furnace. This wasn't Dad's trade, but he did so without charging her. He came home and told my Mom that the poor lady had no food in her house. Dad and Mom brought her over a sack of groceries. This was at a time when money was very tight for us. I was extremely proud of my parents and learned that day what charity truly meant.