Will I get tarred and feathered if I admit that I do not support the United Way? In fact, I am sick and tired of people trying to guilt me into giving to that organization.
At many workplaces around the region, employees are annually hectored into donating to the cause. Just today, the editorial page of the Democrat and Chronicle sternly tells its readership to “Donate to United Way of Greater Rochester now, when it counts.”
Undoubtedly, the United Way supports many worthy efforts across the region. It also supports organizations like Planned Parenthood.
I do not understand why an organization created to do good for an entire community would effectively take sides on a issue as contentious as abortion. It demonstrates that the leadership of the United Way either does not consider abortion to be a sensitive issue, or it does not care. Either way, I refuse to support them.
And before you write a poorly-spelled response about how I am an evil conservative and that only liberals really care about the less fortunate, remember that it is a demonstrated fact that conservatives are much more generous than liberals. In 2007, Arthur C. Brooks, a politically independent professor at Syracuse University, wrote a book called, “Who Really Cares: The Surprising Truth About Compassionate Conservatism.” George F. Will recently provided a nice summary of Brooks’s findings:
•Although liberal families’ incomes average 6 percent higher than those of conservative families, conservative-headed households give, on average, 30 percent more to charity than the average liberal-headed household ($1,600 per year vs. $1,227).
•Conservatives also donate more time and give more blood.
•Residents of the states that voted for John Kerry in 2004 gave smaller percentages of their incomes to charity than did residents of states that voted for George W. Bush.
•Bush carried 24 of the 25 states where charitable giving was above average.
•In the 10 reddest states, in which Bush got more than 60 percent majorities, the average percentage of personal income donated to charity was 3.5. Residents of the bluest states, which gave Bush less than 40 percent, donated just 1.9 percent.
•People who reject the idea that “government has a responsibility to reduce income inequality” give an average of four times more than people who accept that proposition.
To sum up, conservatives are generous people who genuinely care for the less fortunate and give more to charity than liberals.
And this conservative will not give to a charity like the United Way that funnels money to organizations that I vehemently oppose. SO STOP ASKING!
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