WhatFinger


Conservatives, Compassion, Limited Government, Liberals

The Proper Role of Government



I saw something interesting on television the other night. It was late and I was channel surfing when I came upon an old video clip of Michael Moore giving a speech at Mott Community College in his hometown of Flint, Michigan. You’ll remember Moore from such highly-edited, quasi-documentaries as “Bowling for Columbine” and “Fahrenheit 911.” As you can imagine, I’m not a big fan of Michael Moore.

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In this speech Moore mentioned that he had gone to church the previous Sunday at his boyhood parish, and that the priest had talked about the story of Jesus’ discussion with a young man as recorded in Matthew 19:21. As the story goes, this young man had approached Jesus to find out how he could get into heaven. First Jesus told him to keep the commandments. When the young man said that he had done this from his youth, Jesus then said, “If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.” Unfortunately, the young man was unwilling to do this because of his great wealth, and St. Matthew tells us that he “went away sorrowful.” Moore used this story to make what I thought was an excellent point, and one we could all stand to hear. His point was this—and I think I have this word for word: “You cannot get into heaven without a permission slip from the poor.” Those who consider themselves Christians—and I would guess that this is not just a Christian principle—are commanded to look out for one another, to take care of each other, and to help out those who are in need. I don’t think we do enough of this. So I appreciated Moore’s words. But here’s where Moore, and liberals everywhere, got off the tracks: Jesus was not counseling an elected official or the head of a government agency when he said those words; he was speaking to an individual. Jesus never said that it is government’s responsibility to take care of the poor. Jesus made it clear that it is our responsibility as individuals to do this, and that we as individuals will be judged on how well we do it. Liberals like to say that conservatives are greedy and selfish and don’t care about the poor because we oppose the expansion of government welfare programs. The truth is, conservatives do care about the poor, but we happen to think that it is our responsibility as individuals to take care of them and not the government’s. This is why, as Arthur C. Brooks reported in his book, “Who Really Cares: The Surprising Truth About Compassionate Conservatism,” conservative-headed households give 30 percent more to charity that liberal-headed households, and why those who disagreed with the statement, "government has a responsibility to reduce income inequality" give four times more to charity than those who agree with it. It may also explain why the citizens of America give three times as much to charity per capita than the French, seven times as much as the Germans, and 14 times as much as the Italians—all far more liberal countries. The people in these countries assume, “the government will take care of it.” Conservatives understand that just because something is a good idea doesn’t mean that the government needs to do it. We also understand an important concept that liberals don’t seem to get: government is usually the slowest, most inefficient, most expensive avenue for getting anything done. When was the last time you heard of any government project that was finished ahead of time and under budget? We conservatives also understand that the more responsibilities we ask our government to take upon itself, the more of our freedoms go with those responsibilities. There was a reason America’s Founding Fathers believed in limited government, and part of that reason was that the larger and more powerful a government becomes, the more likely it is to usurp its citizens’ individual liberties. Conservatives get this; liberals don’t. So the next time you hear that conservatives hate the poor because we don’t want to create or expand some government program, consider this: by taking the responsibility for the poor upon ourselves instead of passing it along to the government, maybe we’re the ones who are truly living by the admonition Jesus gave to the young man.


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Mike Jensen -- Bio and Archives

Mike Jensen is a freelance writer living in Colorado.  He received his M.A. in Professional Writing from the University of Alaska Fairbanks, where he wrote his first book, Alaska’s Wilderness Highway.  He has since published Skier’s Guide to Utah along with humor, travel, and political articles for various magazines and newspapers.  He is married with five sons, and spends his free time at a remote cabin in the Colorado Rockies.


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