The left... at War on Charity?

The ongoing war waged by the left on the private sector, has gained considerable steam since the election of Barack Obama as President of the United States. It is, of course, aided not by just a Democrat Congress but a Democrat Congress peopled by more Democrats from the far left than ever before.

It is not unusual for a major war to have various battles occurring simultaneously. The war to which I refer is no different in that regard. The battle I will focus on now is that against charity or, using the broader term, philanthropy.

The main engagement of the left’s war you most hear about is, in one way or another, against capitalism. And while most, or at least many, may not agree with that war, they understand it from a polemic point of view. When, however, a battle is said to be waged against charity, many of those same folks will ask “What …how so?”

Putting aside “how” for the moment, the more important question may be why? To the left, it’s all about government vs. the private sector on every front. The left wants government to control all aspects of everyday life. While the efforts to push back the private sector’s charitable programs have been a goal of the left for some time, those efforts over the past nine months have been supported and amplified to an alarming degree by the federal government.

The Obama administration, as you know if you’re at all awake, has been on a bailout spree. At the same time, however, it offered up a change in tax policy that could not in any way be construed as a bail out effort of non profits; in fact, quite the contrary. Why would that be? It is because they want persons that would benefit from charitable donations from the private sector, to look toward government for help.

Also, historically, private charitable groups, when matched against government programs, are far more beneficial to those needing the help. And governments, especially those operating from the left, do not like to be shown up. Especially by the private sector whether they be for, or not for, profit.

There’s much more to this matter of the left warring against private philanthropy. Not wanting to push reader tolerance for reading on the Net, I encourage you to investigate further. There is an excellent article by David Billet in the July/August issue of Commentary.

Note: You may also want to look into the activities of a California based group who call themselves the Greenlining Institute. Its director recently intoned proudly “…most of our money” …comes not from donations but “from lawsuits.”