This argument reminds me of something I heard on NPR yesterday, during something like "Talk of the Nation," or "Fresh Air".
A woman called in to say that she had been brought up to believe in the virtues of compassion, and not being fixated on material things.
But now there were people calling themselves "compassionate conservatives" who didn't believe in giving people decent housing or a living wage, which was a complete misuse of the word "compassionate."
And I was thinking, "well, of course she would think that the way to show you're compassionate is to give away other people's money via taxation and government spending."
That's (modern day) liberalism, in a nutshell, no?
She has no idea and doesn't care how much money "compassionate conservatives" give privately, or how much time they give, or anything else they do (teaching illiterates to read, giving medical care to the sick), because it's not done through government.
She thinks she's the good guy. And I think she's evil. Misguided, too.
But not just misguided. Evil. Because she's blind and full of hatred for people who are different, for one thing, and because she thinks voting to take money at the point of a gun makes her a superior person to those who don't see it that way. If that's how she perceives her duty to be compassionate, which is the way I heard her. |
