An article appeared in the St. Paul Pioneer Press which seems totalitarian to me. It's about charities. Here is a link:
http://www.twincities.com/ci_13936507?source=most_emailed
And here are the telling quotes:
The $300 billion donated to charities last year cost the government more than $50 billion in lost tax revenue. I didn't know that charity donations cost the government! Wow! Here, I had thought that it was individuals who were donating their money to charity. But this quote means that the private money -- the private property -- given to charity (by individuals) wasn't private property at all. That means that there is no such thing as private property -- everything rightfully belonging to the government. What a crock of bull that is!
And even if Stephanie Strom (the author) didn't intend to say that -- i.e., that the proper form of government is full-on communism -- that is what her words imply.
Especially during these tough economic times, it's troubling to hear we are increasing the number of these organizations at such a rapid pace, This quote by Rep. Becerra (D-Calif) is funny. Isn't it in tough economic times when charities should be welcomed? It seems that Rep. Becerra has his head up his bum or something.
It's not free, [Becerra said] and so we need to do something to make sure taxpayers are getting a big enough benefit in return. What this means -- and I would say that Becerra knows exactly what it means -- is that he wants to think of (and speak about) citizens as children, and that he wants to play the role of the parent with but a single exception -- he wants to be a parent who loots his kids' piggy bank.
The "do something to make sure" of which he speaks is nothing other than the government regulation of gift-giving. It would lead to the funneling of money away from where individuals had intended it, and toward areas of the paternalist bureaucrat's choice. A direct mitigation of the autonomy of individuals.
What a terribly immoral person that makes Becerra out to be. I'm glad that I do not live in California.
Ed
[lives in the semi-socialist state of Minnesota]
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