A few people commented on yesterday’s post. I was reminded of another event earlier in my life that might cast light on the subject. The commenter basically said that the rich don’t deserve their tax breaks and corporate welfare. I would agree except we have a fundamental problem with that line of thinking.

I remember going to downtown Fort Worth with some classmates to go watch a movie. They came upon a homeless guy and agreed to buy him a Whataburger. However, there was a string attached. He would have to accept a Bible before he would get any of the food. The bargain seemed cruel, but even worse was the assumption behind it.

See, why does he need a Bible? We are assuming that his plight is somehow connected to a lack of faith. If he had more faith then maybe he would be more successful. The Old Testament is full of these stories. Success is tied to virtue. The virtuous have success and the poor and destitute lack virtue. So, you see a homeless man that is hungry and down on his luck and it must be because he has angered God somehow. Therefore, he needs religion to get back on his feet.

Therefore, captains of industry have earned their success through virtue. They’ve earned it through hard work. They’ve earned it through doing the right thing and avoiding the wrong things. Therefore, if someone brings up corporate welfare and whether they deserve their tax breaks the answer will undoubtedly be yes. See, they do right by God and therefore they will do right if we give them the breaks. They’ve earned their reward.

What we understand is that this is really not the case. The successful people are not necessarily the best people. They may not be the most talented people. They may have just been lucky. The reverse is also true of those that struggle. Maybe they made some key mistakes or made bad choices. Maybe they were just the victims of bad luck. We have no way of knowing one way or the other just by looking at them.

Government spending can’t be about who deserves what. Government spending has to do the most amount of good for the most amount of people. Government is charged with protecting our life, liberty, and property. Government is charged with making us better people. They do that through a social safety net. They do that through public works like education, endowment of the arts, or scientific study. They do that by protecting consumers, workers, and citizens from those that would prey on them. They do that by providing security through police and our legal system.

So, the question of corporate welfare vs. welfare for the poor isn’t a question of who deserves it. It is a question of how sound an investment it is. If we help poor people escape poverty we benefit society. If we give rich people more money they usually pocket it or funnel it to stockholders. So, it is ultimately about benefit.

If we forgive college loans, offer free community college, or eliminate interest then we allow young people to spend more. They might be able to afford that first home. That first home is the start of building generational wealth. When we elevate more people out of poverty or into the middle class we benefit more. So, it is ultimately about benefit and not about being deserving.

I was reminded of a time during my childhood when a family of strangers rang our doorbell. They came in beaten and bloody and told my parents that they had an accident and didn’t have any money. I may have been nine or ten at the time. It’s hard to remember precisely when this happened. I just remember my parents giving them a little bit of money and a black and white television we didn’t use anymore. I think my sister and I gave the children some toys we didn’t play with. At the end of the day it didn’t amount to very much.

Jt didn’t occur to me until much later that no one bothered to verify their story. They could have easily gone door to door using the same act and raked in numerous toys, used televisions, and small amounts of cash that add up to large amounts of cash. We certainly didn’t discuss it as a family. We just gave a little of what we had and didn’t need.

The question of whether they deserved the help didn’t come up, but it certainly comes up today. When confronted with our politics it seems I have fluctuated between the nine and ten year old me and the attitudes of young adult version of me that questioned those we gave to. There are many instances where I just can’t identify with conservative ideology. Sadly, this is one where I definitely can relate because I used to think the same way.

The breakdown occurs when we ask the question of whether someone deserves assistance. It’s an innocent enough question at the outset. No one wants to be taken for a ride. No one wants to give up their hard earned money to someone capable of surviving on their own. No one wants to comfort the comfortable. We want to know that we are helping people that really need our help. It’s simple enough and yet it leads us to a very dark place.

You can imagine the simple mention of the dreaded “Obama phones” that people supposedly got. It gets us started on a cycle that spirals out of control. Why do they get free phones? Are they nice phones? How many free minutes and how much data is free? How come I have to pay for my phone, my minutes, and my data? What did they do to deserve this?

When you hear any mention of free tuition or college loan forgiveness that is the number one response. Why do THEY deserve it? It is the same overwhelming emotion older Americans have when they return to their high school or college alma mater. Why did this get so nice? How come they are spending all this money on them? What did they do to deserve this? Why didn’t we get this stuff? Decades later, I couldn’t tell you exactly what that family in the beginning got. I certainly can’t say that we missed any of it. The better angels of our nature certainly would like to know that they turned out okay, but those darker angels might have appeared had we learned that we were just another easy mark on their way to easy luxury. Even those of us that have generous hearts give into that line of thinking on the other side. What does Exxon/Mobile do to deserve all the tax breaks they get? Why don’t billionaires pay their fair share? What did they do to deserve this?

I’m certain some don’t really need assistance and are taking advantage of the situation. It took me a long time to get to the place where someone’s free phone, free lunch, or free health care shouldn’t concern me. At the end of the day, what exactly does any of us deserve anyway?