Charity and politics

ABC's 20/20 did some amazing journalistic investigation last night for their dazzling piece on 'Who gives and who doesn't?' about how different social groups give money. The show seemed to be glorifying the good nature of conservatives and the religious, whilst being critical of the secular and liberal middle-class. Or maybe that’s simply what the data suggests.

Apparently, middle-class liberals, who don't go to church, who live in San Francisco, who earn more money than their rural, church-going conservative counterparts, who profess to 'care' so much about charitable causes, give less than the poor, church-going conservatives. Liberals are also less likely to give blood. And it's 24 red states (from the last election), which make up the most generous 25 states in America for donating an above-average amount of their income.

Arthur Brooks, the author of "Who Really Cares”, had this to say:
"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," In fact, people who disagree with the statement, "The government has a basic responsibility to take care of the people who can't take care of themselves," are 27 percent more likely to give to charity.

I don’t personally like giving money to charities because they just end up spending it on drugs.