But wait a second . . . what about Kerry's deeds? And what about the deeds of other prominent Democrats who claim moral authority as protectors of the poor?
It's not charitable, of course, to condemn people for a lack of charity. Charity is something special because it is freely given, not something to be coerced or browbeaten out of someone. Yet, it is the Democrats, like Kerry, who raise this issue.
When Kerry was in a tough 1996 race for his U.S. Senate seat, Jeff Jacoby reported, "During the previous six years, it turned out, Kerry had given less than $5,000 to charity ? a minuscule seven-tenths of 1 percent of his gross income for the period."
The Democrats' 2000 standard-bearer, Al Gore, proved no better. His 2000 tax return on an adjusted gross income of $197,729 listed charitable donations of $353. When eyebrows were raised, Gore's spokesman explained, "Contributing financially to charitable organizations is certainly noble and should be encouraged and is something that the Gores have done when the resources were there. However, to truly judge a person's commitment to helping others, you need to consider what they have done with their lives and how they have spent their time ? and by that standard the Gores are extraordinarily committed."
In other words, merely holding a public office, for which one is well paid, makes one a highly moral person. Provided you are a Democrat, of course.
Kerry's efforts to win "moral issue voters" failed miserably. But now liberal reinforcements in the media are coming to the battle. A recent supposed news story on ABC World News Tonight proclaimed that "the message of helping the poor has not gotten a lot of attention in the public debate over moral values. . . . Many Christian groups are hoping to coordinate their efforts to switch the focus of the debate."
Liberals, progressives, Democrats (whatever alias they use) think that the taxes you pay amount to their charity. The mere act of voting to steal bread from the mouths of working Americans to fund any one of a zillion government giveaway programs should, they think, be accounted as their good work. Voting to raise your taxes, with some tiny fraction going to the poor, fills Democratic politicians with grace.
Meanwhile, they dismiss private charity, whereby individuals sacrifice freely to help those in need, as of little consequence. To Kerry and too many of his fellow Democrats, "good works" are those done only through government . . . making taxation their highest moral value.
It makes you wonder: Is government their god?