When progressives make wealth and profits synonymous with greed and corruption people begin to see wealth as something to be avoided instead of admired. People borrow, spend, and live the high life and are never wealthy. This is important because fewer wealthy citizens means fewer jobs. Fewer jobs leads to fewer people to take care of others, which allows the government to make a case to fill the the void. If individuals were still willing and able to engage in private, willful charity and philanthropy (as used to be the tradition), we wouldn't need the government to do it.
Benjamin Franklin once wrote "do not depend too much upon you own industry, and frugality, and prudence, though excellent things; for they may all be blasted, without the blessing of Heaven; and therefore, ask that blessing humbly, and be not uncharitable to those that at present seem to want it, but comfort and help them. Remember, Job suffered, and was afterwards prosperous." John Bach McMaster Benjamin Franklin (New York: Chelsea House, 1980), 125.
Virtue is one of the basic principles of the republic if a large percent of the population is not virtuous then society doesn't function properly. The United States was founded on principles which embrace personal giving and charity as fundamental. That was how people live: charity through voluntary giving in service to God. Then all of that changed. Charity still meant fulfilling financial obligation to a higher power, but higher power went from being God to the United States Government.
The government insisted on removing all traces of religion and faith, along with it's reluctance to help faith-based charity groups is no accident. It is because that leaves the government itself as the "charity" of last resort. Strip out religion and strip away morality, virtue, and eventually, personal charity all that's left is Washington D.C.
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