Helping Others - Example of Christ

I just read a blog post on this site:

http://theliberalmormon.blogspot.com/

The conclusion as to why the person became a liberal was because he heard the call of Christ to help your neighbors and love them. Interesting concept.

This is the interesting thing though, I think that any tidbit of information could back up any viewpoint. Where the rubber hits the road is in determining which viewpoints actually net the desired results.

I am a conservative (for many reasons) because I think the conservative approach makes it more likely for people to get the help they need. I think it is more effective and more food will get in the mouths of the most people.

A for instance:

I am emphatically against forced charity. I think it should be voluntary. The "goodness" or "badness" of our society is determined by the intents of our hearts and the love for our neighbor that we have. So if the government taxes us and redistributes the money we are still in the same spot that we were previously in. I don't think God will judge the world by how many mouths were fed, but by if we had a desire (and acted on it) to feed our neighbors. Forced charity is like no charity at all. I believe the words from the scriptures are that if you give a gift grudgingly it would be better if you never gave the gift at all!

I feel that if I redistribute my wealth (and I think almost all U.S. citizens have wealth!) it should go to who I deem is deserving of it. More importantly, the government redistributes wealth inefficiently. If you gave the government 100 dollars a very small portion of that would lead to getting food in someone's mouth. If individuals redistributed the money themselves 100% of the money would get into people's mouths. This is my biggest reason for despising taxes and forced charitable contributions.

Now clearly there are rebuttals to these premises. However, I feel as though overall, the net benefit of personal redistribution is greater than in forced distribution. You may get a little less money, but I think more mouths will be fed, and people will be empowered and have their eyes opened by having had such a personal experience in helping to alleviate the suffering of another. I think more often than not people hear that dems or other groups care about feeding the poor, that concept strikes a cord with them, and they decide they are liberal. I think quite often people hold on to slogans and sound bites which are given by political parties. I think many people wear the badge of a democrat because they feel it is the "nicer" political party. Their sound bites are convincing:

-we let people live how they want to live
-we love people
-we let people chose
-we care about actually helping people

All of these sound bites and slogans justify my position as a conservative. I think a further analysis is always needed to figure out which position really makes the most difference. If someone said they thought the liberal party made the biggest difference in people's lives I would disagree, but I would be fine with their position. But many people have no idea if their position leads to a greater amount of good being done or not -- they just like the way it sounds! They will wear the badges of all the previous slogans, hoping that it establishes their humanity and kindness, all the while not knowing the actual results of their positions. I can be included in this group at times, but I try and inform myself and figure out which position will bring the most net benefit.

How about you? Do you do the same? Or do you succumb to slogans and sound bites? I think the religious sound bites can sometimes be the most detrimental! It is my stance that more Christlike actions are accomplished by a historically more conservative approach. But I welcome dialogue.