Question of the Day 5/14/2011

Filed in National by on May 14, 2011

How is it possible that the same people who think the words of Jesus should be the law of the land also think that billionaires deserve tax cuts and the poor should not be fed?

Bonus question: If Obama meeting with the families of 9/11 victims at Ground Zero is “too much chest-thumping” for conservatives, why do they then suggest we should put Osama’s brainsplatter on public display?

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X Stryker is also the proprietor of the currently-dormant poll analysis blog Election Inspection.

Comments (15)

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  1. anon says:

    1. They think feeding the poor is charity, and charity should be voluntary and not organized or compelled by representative democracy. From the Book Of Justifications.

    2. Because it is the opposite of what Obama did.

  2. skippertee says:

    As to your first question, His Eminence Dom Helder Camara was also mystified by this: “When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint, when I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a communist.”

    Your second: They LOVE RED MEAT!

  3. pandora says:

    Oooh, I know the answer! Because they’re hypocrites!

  4. @anon

    They want charity to do it so they can pick and choose who is worthy of receiving charity. The ironic thing is that the low tax policies of the GOP don’t encourage people to give to charity.

  5. Dana Garrett says:

    1. Because the last real Christian died on the cross.
    2. Because they like foreign policy that results in gore.

  6. Oh Well Another Year says:

    Same reason liberal hate people making money but if no one makes money then no one pays taxes. Greed pays and liberals are self haters.

  7. jason330 says:

    Tarzan love no pay taxes.

  8. xstryker says:

    I’m fine with people making money as long as they do it ethically. But as far as taxes go, my position is and has always been: With great wealth comes great responsibility.

  9. socialistic ben says:

    If liberal make monies then liberal keep but if good american make money liberal want for liberal self sarah palin make money i saw sarah palin and she look at me and i give her money.

  10. anon says:

    I’m fine with people making money as long as they do it ethically. But as far as taxes go, my position is and has always been: With great wealth comes great responsibility.

    When it comes to the very rich, Americans have a sense that “there ain’t no honest way to make that much money.”

  11. Dana says:

    The Unstable Isotope wrote:

    The ironic thing is that the low tax policies of the GOP don’t encourage people to give to charity.

    How odd it is, then, that conservatives give more to charity than do liberals. For years, the pattern has been the same: conservative states, dominated by Republicans, give more to charity than the “blue” states, even though many of the blue states have higher individual incomes.

    Mississippi, the poorest state in the nation (as ranked by taxpayers’ adjusted gross incomes), is the home of the most generous people. Mississippians, with an average AGI of only $34,720, gave an average of $4,770 per year in tax year 2003 (the last for which we have data), while the residents of Connecticut, the wealthiest state in the nation, with an average AGI of $67,136, gave $3,585, or 27th in the nation. The good citizens of Massachusetts, ranked third in the nation in AGI, at $58,408, gave a whopping $3,122 to charity; that was good for 49th place.

    Utah, which is very politically and socially conservative, is always near the top in charitable giving.

    The problem with your statement was the underlying assumption, that people would give more to charity if higher tax rates meant that they needed to seek increased charitable deductions. If the motivation were strictly economic, than lowered tax rates would leave more money in the hands of individuals with which to be charitable.

    But charity isn’t motivated by tax deductions; charity is motivated from the heart.

  12. socialistic ben says:

    Conservatives are just better at CLAIMING charitable deductions.
    I have no way of quantifying the food I raise for various food drives and I dont particularly care to nickel and dime my taxes to let people know how nice I am. CONservatives are just better at gettin’ credit for dropping a dollar in the jar. You also cant account for volunteer work.
    All we know is that Conservatives try harder to be thanked monetarily for their charity. Not that they give more.
    It is also dishonest to count places like Utah who’s “charity” work is all about converting people to Mormonism. All one needs to look at is big businesses who spend MUCH more money advertising their charities than they actually put in to them. That is the geedservative model.

    keep steepin teabag.
    By the way, you have an unhealthy obsession with UI.

  13. cassandra m says:

    Which doesn’t take away much from UI’s point — especially since tax policy doesn’t exactly discriminate between conservatives and liberals. Using your own examples, places like CT and MA are awfully blue, richer than MS and who probably got way more benefit from tax cuts that the lower AGI folks in MS.

    And certainly doesn’t go very far to answer xstryker’s question, either.

  14. Dana says:

    I bring actual numbers, but Socialistic Ben responds with what he claims to be unprovable claims.

    The claim that “You also cant account for volunteer work” is one that Ben seems to think somehow moves our friends on the left to being more charitable, but offers no explanation or proof which would suggest that liberals do more of that than conservatives.

    All we know is that Conservatives try harder to be thanked monetarily for their charity. Not that they give more.

    Somehow, when Bill Clinton even deducted his used underwear, and President Obama’s initial cabinet appointees seemed to have a large number of tax problems stemming from not including income and taking improper deductions, it seems kind of silly to claim that it’s we wicked conservatives who are the ones “try(ing) harder” to get deductions.

    The problem, Ben, is that the actual numbers tell a different story than your preconceived notions. So, rather than challenging your own biases, your solution is to claim that the numbers somehow lie.

  15. jpconnorjr says:

    I have found from direct experience in working with the poor ( and being poor:) that the most generous people be they “Liberal” or “Conservative” anecdotally for me have been those thatare only a smidgen above “poor” themselves.The differance being is that the “conservatives” vote for and advocate for candidates that don’t give a haf a shit about them. I spend time in groups of people that that make me cry when I see them give of themselves and make want to cry when they discuss theis political views.It is genuinely sad.