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Not Yours To Give
www.townhall.com ^ | 02/09/2005 | Walter E Williams

Posted on 02/12/2005 4:24:46 PM PST by libertarianben

Charity to man's fellow man is praiseworthy, and Americans are the most generous people on Earth.

(Excerpt) Read more at townhall.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Editorial
KEYWORDS: charity; walterwilliams
I search for this and no one posted it, so I decided to. What do you think of it? People love to spend other's peoples money.
1 posted on 02/12/2005 4:24:46 PM PST by libertarianben
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To: libertarianben

My tagline is a true-from-life quote...


2 posted on 02/12/2005 4:40:11 PM PST by backhoe ("It's so easy to spend someone else's money." [My Dad, circa 1958])
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To: libertarianben

I canb hear Walter's voice when I read his missives ... excellent stand-in for Rush, occasionally.


3 posted on 02/12/2005 4:41:54 PM PST by MHGinTN (If you can read this, you've had life support from someone. Promote life support for others.)
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To: MHGinTN

Williams brings a package: intelligence, honesty, sense of humor.


4 posted on 02/12/2005 4:45:04 PM PST by 185JHP ( "The thing thou purposest shall come to pass: And over all thy ways the light shall shine.")
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To: libertarianben
"Today's politicians can't be held fully responsible for our abandonment of constitutional government. While they can be blamed for not being statesmen, the lion's share of the blame rests with 280 million Americans. Elected officials simply mirror public misunderstanding or contempt for constitutional principles."

Prof. Williams you nailed it again.

5 posted on 02/12/2005 4:47:55 PM PST by tahiti
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To: libertarianben
Unlike President Bush, a few of our former presidents understood that charity is not a government function. Franklin Pierce, our 14th president, vetoed a bill to help the mentally ill, saying, "I cannot find any authority in the Constitution for public charity," adding that to approve such spending "would be contrary to the letter and the spirit of the Constitution and subversive to the whole theory upon which the Union of these States is founded."

In 1887, President Grover Cleveland, our 22nd and 24th president, said, when he vetoed a bill to assist drought-inflicted counties in Texas, "I feel obliged to withhold my approval of the plan to indulge in benevolent and charitable sentiment through the appropriation of public funds. ... I find no warrant for such an appropriation in the Constitution."

Imagine that--Presidents who actually considered the Constitution!!!

P.S. Thank you, Walter Williams. :-)

6 posted on 02/12/2005 4:48:53 PM PST by k2blader (It is neither compassionate nor conservative to support the expansion of socialism.)
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To: 185JHP
He's great on air, quipping about his wife and all, but when he gets home ...

Reminds me of the story of the two little brothers who fought all day ...

7 posted on 02/12/2005 5:09:58 PM PST by MHGinTN (If you can read this, you've had life support from someone. Promote life support for others.)
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To: MHGinTN

(;<)


8 posted on 02/12/2005 5:22:42 PM PST by 185JHP ( "The thing thou purposest shall come to pass: And over all thy ways the light shall shine.")
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To: 185JHP

Why doesn't Rush make him the #1 guest host when he's away? It's nice to hear a libertarian voice on the radio. Not always kissing Bush's backside but going after both parties when they violate constitutional principals.


9 posted on 02/12/2005 5:33:42 PM PST by libertarianben (Looking for sanity and his hard to find cousin common sense)
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To: libertarianben

I don't always agree with Williams - but I like his consistency and honesty. He doesn't swap his integrity for an invitation to Davos.


10 posted on 02/12/2005 5:54:19 PM PST by 185JHP ( "The thing thou purposest shall come to pass: And over all thy ways the light shall shine.")
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To: libertarianben
"I'd like to ask President Bush and members of the 109th Congress whether they've discovered the constitutional authority for charitable expenditures undiscovered by James Madison,"

Perhaps Mr. Williams is unaware that President Madison signed the first US foreign aid bill. It was for the relief of Venezuelans hit by an earthquake at Caracas.

Or, more likely, he is unaware that foreign aid is not charity- it's really a bribe. Money, bullets: they're all the same in foreign affairs.

More interestingly President Madison also signed the first domestic disaster relief bill!
It was for the sufferers of the New Madrid earthquake (the worst to ever hit the US). It gave US government land to those whose land had been subsumed in the earthquake.

Mr Williams point that charity is not the business of the government is good, of course, but the evidence is that James Madison did find "the constitutional authority for charitable expenditures ".

11 posted on 02/12/2005 6:12:14 PM PST by mrsmith
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To: libertarianben

bttt for Katrina "relief"


12 posted on 09/19/2005 7:55:33 AM PDT by Sir Gawain
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