Conservatives have more self-control

[I_am_not_mafia]

It isn't that conservatives don't care about poor people. It's that they feel we should help the poor in the form of charity donations, volunteer work, etc... verses having money forcebly taken from people and handled in whichever unproductive way the government sees fit. As a general rule, Christians are supposed to give at a minimum of 10% of their income for the less fortunate. When CD posted here about a charity project he was doing, AM was one of the members who donated the most money of the people here.

I will agree that this is by far most ideal. Giving to charity vs having it taken by force by the government, I mean. Obviously the former is better. Only problem is it relies on everyone to do the right thing and voluntarily give. And unfortunately many dont do that. So the government has to step in. I see this though, as a necessary evil vs an ideal good. I support money especially going to single moms and people who have disabilities and aren't able to work. Maybe the government could be more efficient in giving to those who actually need it? I do also support appropriate tax breaks for people who give a lot to charity.

I admit to not really keeping up with the thread but is charity what is being discussed here? Or tax money being spent to make society better for everyone, including the rich who pay more? I was thinking that it was the latter.

A rich business owner may ask why they need to be taxed to pay for the police and fire service, but if these two services did not exist the business owner would have to spend a lot more money on protecting their business. That's if it would have existed in the first place because starting a business would be a much riskier venture without these emergency services.

Which brings me to the next point. Someone who is rich may wonder why they are being taxed to support people who lose their job. But a society that provides this safety net is also one that is more likely to be prosperous as people feel that they are more able to start new businesses and to explore / exploit new technologies without risk of becoming homeless.

A lot of Americans don't seem to realise that all these evil lefty ideas such as socialism that they argue wouldn't ever work, actually really do improve the lives of everyone in society in a great many, first world countries in the rest of the world.