"I've got mine — good luck to you as I protect it."
This is the common charge, of course. But you seem to ignore the billions
given to charities by private citizens, and the stats show that republicans
give more to charity than democrats. Where's the moral authority in simply
giving your money to bureacratic programs and wash your hands of what
actually happens to it?
People who question the value of the bureacracy for delivering support to
those who need it, shouldn't be dismissed as non-caring when the truth is,
they may be giving more than you via their church or other charity, or
(gasp!) actually helping the people in need, directly.
Dennis Tester
Mac-Groveland
St. Paul
----- Original Message -----
From: "Rick Mons" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Cc: "Dennis Tester" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Wednesday, August 25, 2004 9:13 AM
Subject: Re: [StPaul] Privatization Advocates - Please answer the question.
On Wed, 25 Aug 2004 08:30:55 -0500 "Dennis Tester" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
wrote:
> The success of the "American Civilization" isn't due to its government
> programs, but to the results of a free people who achieved in spite of
> government, not because of it.
>
Seem to me that the above quote crystalizes a key philosophical distinction
between Democrats and Republicans. Democrats believe that folks aren't
going to fully achieve without aid from their government. In fact, I think
we Democrats view it less as "government" and more as "society" with
government serving as the conduit.
It seems that today's anti-tax and anti- government Republicans (e.g. the Mn
Taxpayers League) completely discount the societal value that these
institutions provide under the hubris of self-congratulations and the
apparent motivation of "I've got mine — good luck to you as I protect it."
I've always appreciated the contributions that society has made that helped
equip me to achieve. Those contributions have ranged from public schooling
to libraries to financial aid to my university, etc. It's not clear to me
how today's Republicans are able to (apparently) ignore those contributions
or decide they're no longer needed.
Rick Mons
Tanglewood - Shoreview
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