The red states are really green? Not really, just living IT out...

Generosity, Red and Blue Style
-Michael Medved

A Massachusetts group called The Catalogue for Philanthropy just released its 2005 "Generosity Index"--comparing each state's ability to give (in terms of average adjusted gross income) with the percentage of taxpayers who actually report charitable donations. The results reveal a stunning political pattern: all 25 of the most generous states are red states that gave their electoral support to President Bush.

But of the bottom 12--the stingiest states of them all in terms of charity--11 of 12 are blue states that backed John Kerry--with Massachusetts itself second to the bottom.

The reason GOP states are so much more generous is both obvious and profound: conservatives view compassion as a personal responsibility, but liberals tend to see it as the government's job. One approach leads to individual commitment, while the other encourages the belief you can best help others by leaving it up to tax collectors and bureaucrats.

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You know, this doesn't really surprise me in the slightest. But, I don't really think it has anything to do with Bush v. Kerry or politics at all. Those are simply analogous side effects of the underlying cause. If you look deeper in this study, you'll find that the poorer Southern citizens are by far more charitable than their wealthier, and dare I say "more sophisticated" Northern brethren. And therein lies the crux of the issue. In many parts of the South, and in red states in general, IT still exists--religion. The church is stronger in the South, evangelicals more numerous. It follows, therefore, that those Christians would, by and large, be following the teachings of the church to personally give and provide for the downtrodden. In the North, many of the elite and sophisticated among us feel that they have learned to get along pretty well without religion. Knowledge and worldly understanding have taken the place of Biblical methods. Thus, charitable giving has tanked in the blue states as that international elite mentality has increasingly turned to the government, UN, etc. to meet the needs of the "less fortunate." (Don't you just hate that term!) Those poor, ignorant red staters still don't mind getting their hands dirty to help people, just like Jesus would. The blue staters are too smart to be bothered with doing IT themselves. My two cents.

More to come...