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Friday, May 30, 2008
Compassionless Conservatism
by Jacob G. Hornberger
In an op-ed entitled “The Libertarian Jesus” by Michael Gerson in today’s Washington Post, Gerson provides an excellent example of the moral blind spot that afflicts the conservative movement.
Gerson, who served as a speech writer for President Bush and who was a senior policy advisor for the conservative Heritage Foundation, uses his op-ed to sing the praises of government welfare programs, especially those that are endorsed by conservatives under the rubric of “compassionate conservatism.”
Implicitly denouncing libertarianism for calling for the end, not reform, of all government welfare programs, Gerson feels that while tremendous deference should be given to private charity, the role of the federal government in helping others is necessary and imperative.
Amazingly, Gerson fails to address the central moral issue in both Christianity and libertarianism: coercion vs. voluntarism.
With government welfare programs, government force is used to take money from one person in order to given it to another person. ...