A man earning $30,000 giving $300 to charity sacrifices more than a Billionaire giving away millions

[Tom Rinaldo]

28. You are using a straw man argument

Charity and sacrifice are different concepts and I don't think I was confusing them in my observation.

First off, very few people of average means or less make an effort to make the world know how much they are giving to charity. I am the one raising the element of relative personal sacrifice here in a sociological context - because it echos themes current to the political debate; notably who is or is not mooching, and who is or is not in a position to be asked to make "sacrifices" during efforts to reduce federal deficits.

The people who call attention to their civic charity are usually the ones who like to have buildings named after them in recognition of their generosity, and they are very large donors who almost always have substantial wealth. I have no problem with that when it happens, but poor people seldom get recognized for their generosity.

Actually what solid charities care about is whether their mission will succeed. A strategy that focuses on soliciting the support of people who can write big checks is often productive toward that end but not without some exceptions. Sometimes a strategy that focuses on winning the active support loyalty and involvement of a broader cross section of the population turns out ultimately to be more fruitful

And of course a charity in the normal course of affairs does not care how much of a sacrifice a donor is making by giving, although in some cases inspirational publicity focused on the sacrifices some make to support a cause indeed can benefit that cause.

I wrote this OP in the context of the current debate kicked up by Mitt Romney's comments on the 47% of people who he stated he will never be able to convince to care about their own lives because their inability to pay income taxes somehow orients them toward a dependent mind set which leaves them thinking of themselves as victims who the government must support. The aura of moral superiority here was seized by someone who attributes those who can afford to pay income taxes as having a finer character.than those who can not.

Sacrifice may not be highly relevant to charity but the concept of shared sacrifice certainly is to our nation. I suppose you could turn my argument on its head and point out that the well to do are denied the chance to show how generous of spirit they truly are because almost by definition it never really hurts them to give. But this nation needs a President with a deeply held understanding of what it actually means, what the repercussions are in each case, to ask people of differing financial situations to give up something for their nation's overall needs.

We can leave to another time a discussion of whether or not our nation, or even a major charity, is well served by having such a great percentage of our nations wealth owned by such a small percentage of her citizens. Given the status quo, of course major charities seek help from major donors. For the same reason why Willy Sutton frequented banks.