Ryan ChartrandI hope everyone had a wonderful holiday break. Although the holiday season is over, I hope that the giving spirit of the holiday season continues into the New Year. I bet you didn’t know, but there are many in our own San Luis Obispo who are in “need.”
I see these people downtown, sometimes covered in old smelly clothing, asking me for money. I of course, help these people. Really, I’m serious! No, I don’t give them a handout; instead, I usually give them helpful and encouraging advice (I usually yell, “Get a job!”). See, what these people really need is an incentive to work. Jobs are plentiful and these people are capable of working.
However, by giving these people money (which people do, for some reason), they are actually hurting these “needy” folk by removing this incentive. Thus, I, as your humble conservative columnist, encourage everyone in our lovely town to yell at these “needy” people. By yelling at them and shaming them, they might be motivated into finding productive work. However, if you don’t have the courage to say it to their face, yelling something when you drive past in a fast-moving vehicle is also effective.
Trust me, most of these “needy” people are very capable of work, and actually choose to be out there begging. As evidence, many of these “needy” people are physically fit, and some are actually quite creative: a few can play instruments, others come up with cleverly written signs, and most are very good at hassling people.
Likewise, across California work is plentiful (there are countless immigrants who don’t seem to have a problem finding work). Moreover, you don’t even need to speak English or have any form of identification to be employable.
Therefore, I must conclude those “needy” people on our streets aren’t really that ‘needy,’ but are instead merely lazy. Perhaps, working at McDonald’s or Carl’s Jr. (which is always hiring) is too demanding for our “needy” San Luis Obispans.
If you’ve read this far, your probably assuming that I am the typical, heartless Republican. I will admit, I might be a typical Republican, but I’m not heartless, in fact far from it. Surprisingly, Republicans in general give much more than Democrats when it comes to charitable donations. For instance, The Wall Street Journal reported that conservative households give 30 percent more to charity than liberal households. Likewise, religious people in America give away four times as much as seculars do. Perhaps most strikingly, in states which George W. Bush got more then 60 percent of the 2004 presidential vote, charitable giving was nearly double (as percent of income) than those states in which Bush got less than 40 percent of the vote. Even poor families without welfare support, gave three times as much to charity as families who receive welfare with the same total income.
So, I really believe in helping people. However, I believe that giving to reputable charities is the most effective way of helping. Therefore, I will never give a handout, because it accomplishes nothing and only reinforces an attitude of laziness.
When I give to charity, I have to know that my money will help make a change so that the root of the problem is being attacked, not just the outward symptoms. After researching the particular charity, I can trust that they would make a difference with my money.
The alternative, which many liberals rely on, is the forcible and inefficient redistribution of our tax dollars by the government to do this. Ethically, forcibly taking someone else’s money to ‘help’ another seems questionable.
Likewise, government is the last thing I would trust to “help” anyone.
Brian Eller is a materials engineering junior and Mustang Daily political columnist.