re: The Conservative Myth of a Social Safety Net Built on Charity

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And we didn't give up sending letters the moment email was created.

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Until charities are able to realistically supplant the work that government does, is it even moderately intelligent to advocate getting rid of all of it?

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yes. No one is going to help their neighbor when a) they are already surrending 30-50% of their income and b) there is "someone else" to do it.

I keep asking the question: "would you let your neighbor starve, or go without lifesaving surgery". No one wants to answer the question, oddly.

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The article isn't about the abuse you can find in these programs.

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Indeed. It all looks good when you only examine half of the equation. No one ever seems to want to count the hopes and dreams squashed because a middle-income family cannot afford college for their children, or take care of grandma because they are surrendering so much to the federal government.

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It's about charity's inability to solve the problems many think they can.

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Well, what it says it that we don't have the charitable society we'd like to think we have. Forcibly removing income tends to make people LESS generous over time. None of this should be surprising.