[kitchencabinetforum] CHARITY

My views on charity are very simple. I do not consider it a major virtue and, above all, I do not consider it a moral duty. There is nothing wrong in helping other people, if and when they are worthy of the help and you can afford to help them. I regard charity as a marginal issue. What I am fighting is the idea that charity is a moral duty and a primary virtue.

The fact that a man has no claim on others (i.e., that it is not their moral duty to help him and that he cannot demand their help as his right) does not preclude or prohibit good will among men and does not make it immoral to offer or to accept voluntary, non-sacrificial assistance.

It is altruism that has corrupted and perverted human benevolence by regarding the giver as an object of immolation, and the receiver as a helplessly miserable object of pity who holds a mortgage on the lives of others — a doctrine which is extremely offensive to both parties, leaving men no choice but the roles of sacrificial victim or moral cannibal.

To view the question in its proper perspective, one must begin by rejecting altruism's terms and all of its ugly emotional aftertaste - then take a fresh look at human relationships. It is morally proper to accept help, when it is offered, not as a moral duty, but as an act of good will and generosity, when the giver can afford it (i.e., when it does not involve self-sacrifice on his part), and when it is offered in response to the receiver's virtues, not in response to his flaws, weaknesses or moral failures, and not on the ground of his need as such.

Vatmonger Eurokleptocrats declare that Fourth Reich(EU) aid to the needy is a manifestation of Fourth Reich's benevolence! To whom vatbuster Basil Venitis replies: It's not yours to give! Venitis points out welfare queens collect excessive welfare payments through fraud and manipulation. Ronald Reagan used to tell the story of a welfare queen from Chicago's South Side who had eighty names, thirty addresses, twelve Social Security cards, and was collecting veteran's benefits on four non-existing deceased husbands. And she was collecting Social Security on her cards. She got Medicaid, getting food stamps, and she was collecting welfare under each of her names. Her tax-free cash income was over $200,000.

The welfare states of Uncle Sam(US) and Fourth Reich(EU) have grown into an unwieldy hodgepodge of programs that provide various forms of assistance to many millions of Americans and Fourthreichians. Basil Venitis estimates welfare costs taxpayers three trillion euros annually, and it will keep growing in the years ahead. The welfare cancer grows by following the infamous malevolent-seven routine adinfinitum in Congress, aka Parliament of Whores, and the European Parliament(EP), aka Eldorado of Prostitutes:

* Invite a superstar to draw media attention to the proposal.

* Paint those supporting the plan as benevolent humans; smear those who object as malevolent apes who despise the needy.

* Declare a national crisis to create a sense of urgency and present the proponents as Moses.

* Bring in a top kleptocrat to claim the moral high ground on behalf of those who stand to receive the latest government handout.

* Throw in a panel of antivenitist pseudoexperts to cost up what needs to be done, thereby framing the chairman's expensive plan as nothing more than a modest first step.

* Engage in some good old-fashioned political jujitsu by inviting a retired general to hoodwink that growing the welfare state can actually enhance national security.

* Have some antivenitist eggheads argue that investing billions today is the fiscally prudent thing to do, because it will save much more in health and other societal costs down the road.