Amerika

Liberals show tremendous compassion in pushing for generous government spending to help the neediest people at home and abroad. Yet when it comes to individual contributions to charitable causes, liberals are cheapskates.

Arthur Brooks, the author of a book on donors to charity, “Who Really Cares,” cites data that households headed by conservatives give 30 percent more to charity than households headed by liberals. A study by Google found an even greater disproportion: average annual contributions reported by conservatives were almost double those of liberals.

Other research has reached similar conclusions. The “generosity index” from the Catalogue for Philanthropy typically finds that red states are the most likely to give to nonprofits, while Northeastern states are least likely to do so.

NYT

Not surprising.

Conservatives view government’s job as to provide infrastructure; liberals want government to pacify everyone by serving as a safety net.

So liberals vote for more entitlements, and don’t want to give up what they already have, because they have a covert oppositional attitude toward government.

Conservatives, who have an overt oppositional attitude toward government, try to reign in government spending and then apply money to sensible, organic charities.