G Will Article about Austin and charity

[Horns11]

That map would still look the same if things like Social Security and Medicaid were never invented. This isn't a "big government vs. little government" issue, it's entirely driven by religion.

I'm sure there are nice stories of atheists and agnostics who give a ton to philanthropy, but when you get right down to it, the Mormons in Utah and the Baptists in Alabama were raised to do the proper, church-going thing, save nothing for the fact that they would be straight-up ostracized if they didn't do the full tithe when the plate was passed around.

 

[mchammer]

That map would still look the same if things like Social Security and Medicaid were never invented. This isn't a "big government vs. little government" issue, it's entirely driven by religion.

I'm sure there are nice stories of atheists and agnostics who give a ton to philanthropy, but when you get right down to it, the Mormons in Utah and the Baptists in Alabama were raised to do the proper, church-going thing, save nothing for the fact that they would be straight-up ostracized if they didn't do the full tithe when the plate was passed around.

These same areas also advocate for smaller government. Cause? Effect?

 

[Horns11]

I guess I'd be interested in how much of a correlation there is. I think there are plenty of people in Appalachia who would swear on a stack of Bibles that they want less government interference in their lives, all the while reaping mountains of federal tax dollars on things like Medicaid, environmental cleanup efforts, and agricultural subsidization. Kind of like when Rolling Stone crashed the West Virginia Tea Party rally a few years ago and interviewed people in Medicare-provided wheelchairs about how to trim federal health care costs as a tongue-in-cheek "gotcha."

Just like there are plenty of morally-superior atheists in NYC who would have the government ban everything except all alternative forms of marriage.

I think the charitable giving map correlates more to Sundays than it does to polling places. Those same people that "say" they want smaller government are just doing it because it's what you do in that part of the country. And those parts of the country tend to give a higher percentage of income to charity. The "liberal" places might give a higher dollar amount but lower percentage, too.