Opinion: Liberals Are Less Charitable Than Conservatives

Liberals are less generous than conservatives, despite their claims to hold the more compassionate viewpoint, says George F. Will in an opinion article in The Washington Post.

Mr. Will gives the example of Austin, Tex., a mostly liberal city that The Chronicle of Philanthropy ranked 48th out of America’s 50 largest cities in per capita charitable giving. He notes that Arthur C. Brooks, a professor at Syracuse University, in his book “Who Really Cares: The Surprising Truth About Compassionate Conservatism,” found that conservative families give more blood, time, and money on average.

Mr. Wills points out two causes for this: religion and views on the role of government.

“While conservatives tend to regard giving as a personal rather than governmental responsibility, some liberals consider private charity a retrograde phenomenon — a poor palliative for an inadequate welfare state and a distraction from achieving adequacy by force, by increasing taxes,” Mr. Will writes.

For more on charity’s political divide, read The Chronicle’s profile of the book by Mr. Brooks.

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