Limited Government and the Poor

One constantly hears the claim by conservatives that the real issue between conservatives and liberals is the size and scope of government. Conservatives never tire of repeating the claim that they want smaller government, and that the present size of government is far beyond anything envisioned or authorized by the Constitution. They assert that the growth of government threatens their freedom and way of life. Nonsense! What they object to is taxes and the use of government funds to help the poor, especially minorities.

The primary source of conflict between liberals and conservatives has always been the issue of how to deal with the poor. Liberals have always supported and conservatives have always opposed governmental policies that provide for the amelioration of poverty through jobs, minimum wages, welfare, social security, health care, housing, and tax relief. Liberals look upon such legislation as humane justice. Conservatives see such programs as the redistribution of wealth.

If government programs constitute redistribution of wealth, why aren’t the poor people getting wealthy? A really good program redistributing wealth would, at the very least, provide every poor person with hundreds of thousands of dollars. Why do poor people go on being poor, living in wretched housing conditions, and doing without food, and clothing?

In order for the government to provide welfare, Medicaid, housing programs, food stamps, unemployment benefits, jobs programs, and other relief for poor people, there have to be a number of governments departments administering such aid. This is what conservatives object to; the payment of taxes necessary to support those departments.

Conservatives do not oppose the expansion of governmental power or the expenditure of governmental funds for programs they favor. They approve of the use of taxes to augment military power and wage war, subsidize oil and gas companies in the search for fossil fuels, and enforce laws against illegal immigration, abortion, pornography, and the drug trade.

To many conservatives, poor people, especially minority people, are not deserving of any aid from the government. They believe that such people are lazy, ignorant, and inferior. Their attitude is best reflected in the remarks of the South Carolina Lieutenant Governor, Andre Bauer, who recently said: “My grandmother was not a highly educated woman, but she told me as a small child to quit feeding stray animals. You know why? Because they breed! You're facilitating the problem if you give an animal or a person ample food supply. They will reproduce, especially ones that don't think too much further than that." In other words, poor and minority people are like animals; all they are good for is eating and breeding.

Such thinking reveals a cold-hearted lack of compassion. Some people who share these beliefs call themselves “Christians.” Nothing could be more ironic. The Bible tells us that the man they worship as the Son of God was born poor and spent his life on earth wandering among, preaching to, and blessing the poor. He taught his followers how to see the face of God in the poorest and most wretched people. I wonder if Andre Bauer ever read these words: “...for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink...as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me” (Matthew 25:35-40). I wonder why it is too much for the Andre Bauers of this world that some of their taxes are used to help the poor?

Private charity is simply not enough to provide for many of the needs of the poor. The provision of such necessities is more than a moral good. It benefits the nation and all of the people. It ennobles us and makes us a better people. It makes our nation stronger, safer, and happier.