Charity and Money

Like the plethora of sheeple out there, I used to think charity was summed up in writing a check to some hoodwinker with images of starving children. Ethiopia, the land of my heritage, has been inseparably linked with destitute poverty in the minds of many. Due, of course, to the efforts of the UNICEF box waving do-gooders. Do not take my criticism the wrong way. I do not oppose feeding the children. However, how do we go about feeding the children?

The ends that are sought by sane men are often the same. A parcel of land, a tid bit of food, an iota of insurance, and a smidgeon of leisure time. The means we select set us apart. There are humans, and there are beasts. There is no middle ground. Where you lie on the spectrum depends upon your interactions. There is the "economic means", and the "political means".

"These are work and robbery, one's own labor and the forcible appropriation of the labor of others... I propose in the following discussion to call one's own labor and the equivalent exchange of one's own labor for the labor of others, the economic means for the satisfaction of needs, while the unrequited appropriation of the labor of others will be called the political means." (Oppenheimer, The State)

Dictionary.com defines charity as

 generous actions or donations to aid the poor, ill, or homeless

When the State claims it engages in acts of "charity", we should all let out a barbaric yawp, and a Scroogian humbug. When an advocate of foreign "aid" preaches the merits of invasionism you should hold one thought in your mind. Nonsense on a high-rise. The truth behind their docile facade is theft. Forcibly removing funds of certain people for others.

The State produces nothing. Every action of the State is an act of consumption. Follow the money. How is the State funded? The State is funded by; force, coercion, incursions, expropriation, racketeering, stealing, threatening, bruising, kidnapping, hoodwinking, swindling, hornswoggling, and murdering. These occur in two formats, creating currency and taking currency. The former can only be accounted for by the latter. The bureaucrats "print" money (it's digital now), and demand tribute from the populace. Without monopolizing the usage of weapons against innocent bystanders, this could not be achieved. There is nothing generous about force. There is nothing generous about the State's attempt to aid the poor. The State does not engage in charity.

If you believe in being kind, and loving one another, you should never advocate State action. In order to "help" those people whom you seek to aid, a toll must be paid by human lives.

For those who care about giving, give to voluntary associations. Groups of individuals who are so passionate about aid, that they interact with humans without resorting to guns or the threat of guns. I am that type of a person. Let me aid you in your ventures with voluntary regulating agencies (unlike State regulators) that check the merits of charities for you.

GiveWell.org, and CharityNavigator.org