Not really differently. This piece picks a favorable definition of “conservative” to avoid the result they don’t like. And even then conservatives and liberals come out even—hardly support for your hypothesis that conservatives just don’t grok giving.
In many of these instances, I think the term “charitable” is being stretched quite a bit
That’s irrelevant because what’s under discussion is propensity of people to give away their wealth. In this context it doesn’t matter whether the money is used effectively.
they seem to have a very different utility function than my liberal friends
Well, any reason to be surprised? Political disagreements are real and correlate with a whole bunch of other preferences.
That’s irrelevant because what’s under discussion is propensity of people to give away their wealth. In this context it doesn’t matter whether the money is used effectively.
Hm. I’m not necessarily talking about if the money is being used “effectively”. Rather, the money given to the church is used for the good of the church and those who attend the church (i.e. the giver included). It is quite effective to that end.
I suppose all charities are like this in some way—they benefit humanity, a group to which we all belong. But in the church, a very small amount of total revenue does anything for people outside the church. If it is a charity (which I’m not sure it is), then it is one that quite directly benefits the giver.
If this money is all counted as “charity”, it’s very easy to see how conservatives might out-give liberals. In fact, it’s what I’d expect to see in a country that is so religious.
Well, any reason to be surprised? Political disagreements are real and correlate with a whole bunch of other preferences.
Not surprised, no. But it’s a more helpful way of viewing things than simply concluding liberals are generous with money and conservatives are selfish with it. There is more to it than that, as you point out.
Not really differently. This piece picks a favorable definition of “conservative” to avoid the result they don’t like. And even then conservatives and liberals come out even—hardly support for your hypothesis that conservatives just don’t grok giving.
That’s irrelevant because what’s under discussion is propensity of people to give away their wealth. In this context it doesn’t matter whether the money is used effectively.
Well, any reason to be surprised? Political disagreements are real and correlate with a whole bunch of other preferences.
Hm. I’m not necessarily talking about if the money is being used “effectively”. Rather, the money given to the church is used for the good of the church and those who attend the church (i.e. the giver included). It is quite effective to that end.
I suppose all charities are like this in some way—they benefit humanity, a group to which we all belong. But in the church, a very small amount of total revenue does anything for people outside the church. If it is a charity (which I’m not sure it is), then it is one that quite directly benefits the giver.
If this money is all counted as “charity”, it’s very easy to see how conservatives might out-give liberals. In fact, it’s what I’d expect to see in a country that is so religious.
Not surprised, no. But it’s a more helpful way of viewing things than simply concluding liberals are generous with money and conservatives are selfish with it. There is more to it than that, as you point out.