Charity is Shared Misery

It is a well established fact that government welfare programs don't work at eliminating poverty. In fact, they actually help to increase poverty as a consequence of moral hazard. Conservatives and libertarians make the argument that charity is better when done through private means as opposed to government means. There is some truth to that. But let's face facts, folks. Even private charity is a failure. This is because charity is shared misery.

Before I begin, it is important that I make a distinction between charity and patronage. Patronage is where you donate money, time, and the rest to some project that is not aimed for private profit and usually results in a public good. This could be a rich billionaire who makes an endowment to a university for a school of arts or business. This could be a museum or public library. It even includes your donations to cancer research, public broadcasting, or independent journalism. Patronage is not charity.

Aid is not charity either. Aid is where you give money and resources for relief from some calamity or disease. These would be donations to the Red Cross, Doctors Without Borders, etc. The calamities could be earthquakes, floods, cholera, political unrest, etc. The calamity is not poverty.

Charity is the contribution of money and resources to the relief from and elimination of poverty. This would be soup kitchens, homeless shelters, Habitat for Humanity, and the like. The track record of all these endeavors is piss poor. Even on a private level, giving money to some homeless guy is not going to change his poverty. Sometimes, they aren't even poor. I have met homeless guys who weren't homeless at all but discovered that begging is actually quite lucrative.

The belief is that poverty and homelessness is simply a calamity, and sometimes, it is. A teenager kicked out of the house at age 18 probably wasn't asking to be poor and homeless. But there it is. Similarly, someone who loses everything in a fire is in similar dire straits. We shouldn't look down on these people because shit happens. As someone who once had to sleep in his car, I can tell you that events can very easily put you in a place you never thought you would be.

Poverty happens when someone either can't work or won't work. People who have been injured or facing illness or excruciating pain are in this category. A quadriplegic is also in this category except his or her condition makes them permanently incapable of working except in purely intellectual terms. Unless you are Stephen Hawking, it is doubtful that you will be able to turn enough cash with just your mind to cover the cost of your constant care. But people like this are in the minority. Often, they are very old, very sick, or the victim of some accident. When you see the amazing things paraplegics and the blind do, it kills a lot of your sympathy for people who whine that they can't work or make a living.

The other argument is that there is something fundamentally flawed in the capitalist system that makes people poor. I agree. There is. The fundamental flaw in the capitalist system is that you have to get off your ass and work. There is always work. People complain that these jobs are in fast food or other demeaning and humble occupations. But the fact that these jobs still go unfilled even in a recession should tell you all you need to know. Poverty is the inevitable result of laziness. Charity is the subsidy for that laziness. It doesn't matter if it is government charity or private charity.

Giving money to people without some quid pro quo results in moral hazard. Charity creates poverty. It does not cure it. A society based on charity as witnessed in communist and socialist countries collapses as a result of this moral hazard. We all know this. Even leftards know this. The reward for subsidizing bad behavior is the production of more bad behavior. So, if charity and welfare don't work, why do we still support these things?

Charity is fundamentally the sharing of misery. Its aim is not to help the poor as much as to punish the rich and virtuous. The poor have a surplus of misery while the rich have a surplus of happiness. This is why leftards always talk about equality because they aim to equalize this happiness/misery thing. The misery thing never gets fixed. What does get fixed is the happiness thing. Charity and welfare succeed wonderfully in causing grief, pain, and frustration for the rich. The more it fails the better it "succeeds." Not only must the rich person part with his wealth, but he is also denied the satisfaction that it did some good. His productive effort has been utterly wasted. This pleases the leftard immensely.

If this nauseates you, welcome to the wonderful world of envy. In the leftard world, envy is a virtue. Hating the successful is socially acceptable. Being successful yourself is tolerated so long as you pay the proper penance. This means voting for Democrats and recycling your garbage. Otherwise, you get to keep your earnings.

Any comparison of the wealth of the capitalist world to the communist world shows that there is greater material abundance in capitalist countries. Even the poor are better off materially as a consequence of capitalism as even the laziest pieces of shit still manage to own cars, TV sets, and smartphones. This doesn't matter to the leftard. Capitalism is a failure because the rich are materially better off than the poor. Fundamentally, the rich are better off than the envious leftards. That is the real crime.

Libertarians and conservatives are averse to telling it like it is for fear of being smacked down as elitist or something. But there it is. Charity is punishment for being successful. Leftards could give a shit about the poor especially considering their own low levels of giving. All that matters is that some rich fucker pay for the crime of being rich. Some rich people fall for this line of crap like Bill Gates. Others don't like Steve Jobs.

The best way to help the poor is to become successful. Become rich not because you can give to charity or pay more taxes but because you create jobs, products, and innovations. If you feel lucky and want to help those less fortunate, give to organizations that provide aid not charity. Want to share the wealth? Be a patron of the arts and sciences. Build museums, libraries, and universities. Support scientific and medical research. But don't waste your money trying to make poor people stop being poor. You are only making the problem worse not better. You are just sharing the misery. Share some happiness instead.

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