This Holiday Season, Remember That Charity Is More Effective Than Government
‘Tis the season for giving.
For me, that mostly means supporting charities.
One organization I donate to is SSP, Student Sponsor Partners, a nonprofit that gives scholarships to kids from low-income families. SSP helps children escape bad public schools by providing grants to students so they can pay the cheaper tuition at mostly Catholic schools.
I’m not Catholic, but I give to SSP because their schools are better than the dreary ones run by the bureaucratic unionized government monopoly. They do better for half the cost.
It feels good to give.
But wait.
Government already gives out more than a trillion dollars in welfare programs.
State governments add another $744 billion.
In total, we’ve spent $25 trillion on poverty programs since America declared “War on Poverty.”
Yet 1 in 10 Americans still live in poverty.
Some say the solution is simple: Spend more! Throw more money at the problem, and surely it’ll go away.
The World Institute for Development Economics says, “Welfare policies, such as cash transfers to the poor, unemployment benefits, child subsidies and universal health care…can break cycles of poverty.”
But $25 trillion later, why haven’t they?!
Because government handouts erode self-reliance.
Government programs push the message: “You need a handout. You deserve a handout. It is no longer up to you to support your families, neighbors or even yourself. It’s up to government.”
As a result, welfare programs are no longer a bridge to independence but a ball and chain that weighs recipients down. Welfare doesn’t equip people with tools to become self-sufficient. It rewards dependency.
For the first time in history, America has a near-permanent “underclass”—generation after generation that lives off government. Welfare discouraged self-improvement.
People avoid marriage lest they lose benefi
Article from Reason.com
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