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22












"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way - in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only"
A writer can't hone his craft to greater perfection.
Obviously they'll all throw their heads back and howl at this comparison. But that's only because it's so accurate. The wicked taketh the truth to be hard.
Why would anyone want an organization that returns only a fraction of the money if ever receives to those it was "targeted" for in the first place?
Perhaps Scrooge had a change of heart but at least he didn't waste the vast majority of his money by handing it over to the Government to completely screw it up.
Scrooge was neither liberal or conservative. In fact he is closest to what a moderate is. In Richard Wilkins' "Carol of Redemption," it reads:
"The "Carol" taught that pursuit of lierty, without more, makes money--but not a decent society.
"Some may suppose that this economic message is all there is to the "Carol". There is more. The essential flaw of Ebenezer Scrooge--and in English society--was not that he (or it) valued economic liverty too much. Economic liberty is a good thing. But it is not the only thing. Scrooge's focus on economic liberty as the only legitimate social value resulted in his bitter isolation rather than Bob Cratchit's friendly hearth.
"America is replicating an analogous evil. We are, I fear, walking the same path as Ebenezer Scrooge. We no longer lay our offerings on the altar of economic liberty worshiped by old Ebenezer. No, our current infatuation with self-centeredness is more sophisticated: we idolize not economic efficiency, but rather autonomy and individual "rights." This modern focus on isolation and unfettered liberty, however, does little to distance us from Mr. Scrooge."
Scrooge was just a plain mean miser.
He was neither conservative or liberal.
A liberal will take the coat off someone else's back and give it to a needy person. All the while claiming his "love" for the both persons.
A conservative will buy a coat for the needy person, while complaining that the needy was not doing enough to help themselves.
Study after study has revealed that conservatives are more charitable than liberals.
He brought new thought and perspective on everything the conservatives believed in.
I find it ironic that most conservatives are unable to see who the ultimate liberal was:
Love your fellow men.
Take care of the poor.
Don't be greedy (its harder for a rich man to enter heaven than to pass a camel through the eye of a needle).
Don't judge others for their lifestyle (one without sin cast the first stone).
As I read scripture I realize that current conservative politics is as far from Jesus Christ as possible.
I my humble view, is this weather, read "To Build a Fire" by Jack London. It's free on the Net. Utah is enjoying the perfect weather for this saga. Snow will never look the same to you.
Besides if Scrooge was a liberal, he would have been running around yelling "happy Holidays" at the end imstead of "Merry Christmas" because it is not PC. Stupid letter with no basis at all.
Christ taught that our compassion must be honest and from the heart. It must be personal. Liberals, generally, believe and enforce coerced compassion, using other people's money to further their own vision of what compassion looks like. Rarely do they open their own wallets or schedules to any degree approaching that of conservatives. They also tend to ignore the role of personal responsibility of those receiving charity in contributing to their own betterment.
I would submit that Scrooge started out as a liberal, relying on the government (debtors prisons) to solve the indigent problem. The change made him conservative and personalized his compassion. He gave of his own substance. He did not advocate higher taxes as the remedy.
Those who claim Christ was liberal miss the (conservative) personal action aspects of His teachings. He didn't say 'go avail yourselves of Caesar's wealth'. He said give of your own substance to the poor. He also required the petitioners to do something before granting them compassion and healing.
When you looked into the study, you found out that IRS charitable deductions were used as data. The results of the study could have reflected that conservatives were more likely to claim a deduction or to fluff their deductions.