Credit to the Michael Medved show for the following (the guest was one of his rabbi friends):
Charity is a moral transaction. The giver gives out of the compassion in his heart for his fellow man. He benefits by the knowledge that he has helped someone and through the gratitude of the man he helped. The receiver of the charity appreciates his benefactor and reaps the moral rewards of a grateful heart.
Government programs change this transaction by removing the morality. The giver is no longer acting out of compassion but compulsion at the point of a gun. Rather than lightening his heart, his spirit is heavy and resentful. The receiver is no longer receiving the love of his fellow man but a payment from government to which he doesn’t feel grateful but entitled.
This is paraphrased from my memory... but sounds about right.
That’s exactly right from a Christian point of view also. Government charity typically morally hurts all people involved. It also causes people to think that they don’t have any responsibility to give individually. The liberal approach to charity is anti-Christian.