Right now we have a family in our parish. There is a Dad who is laid off, a Mom who worked but was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer so is too sick to work, and three kids one of which is in stage 4 lymphoma.
The parish has come together to help this family. There is a spaghetti dinner next weekend and they sell tickets after every mass with a donation jar.
That’s how conservatives help. We don’t look to the government. You are absolutely correct.
The problem is — and this comment is not directed at the original poster — that many people want all the benefits of being a member of a close knit community with a strong support structure, but they aren’t willing to make the sacrifices associated with being part of that community. So they turn to the state with the presumption that it doesn’t matter if they skimp or free-ride on other aspects of their membership in the political community because all that matters is getting benefits.
But by far the worst thing that the post-FDR vision of the state has done is corrupt our ability to engage in charity. I know a lot of leftists who justify their lack of charitable giving (when they are not openly mocking me for tithing) by the fact that they vote for social programs. This idea that the state should take over the difficulties of personal sacrifice and charity seems to absolve them, in their minds, of the fact that they are not individually charitable.