— Ron Paul’s Charity: Libertarian Views Fail Reality Test (via ryking)If Paul were to get his way, he would abolish Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, and in their place, he believes private, donor-funded charities would step in to voluntarily assume the responsibilities of America’s three biggest social safety nets — programs that cost the federal government $440 billion in 2008.
More than perhaps any other presidential candidate, Paul believes that private philanthropy is capable of providing assistance on par with what the federal government provides today…
But according to Dr. Leslie Lenkowsky of Indiana University’s Center on Philanthropy, data on decades of American philanthropy squarely contradicts Paul’s opinion… “Mr. Paul’s notion that private donors could ever wholly replace government social welfare programs? Well, it’s a fantasy…”
Like much of his economic libertarianism, Paul’s theory on charity relies on proving a negative, namely that if only the government would cease to aid the poor, then private philanthropy could finally achieve its full potential — something that’s never been proven in the real world. A spokesman for Paul declined to respond to questions from HuffPost.
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