A few days ago I came across this story, "Church Ordered to Stop Giving Away Free Water," which describes a church that was engaging in charity, only to be stopped by none other than the government. According to the story, the church was given a cease and desist order for handing out bottles of water and coffee during the Mardi Gras parade route. Why? Well, the article explains that "The church volunteers were cited for failing to secure an occupational license and for failure to register for a sales tax." A question that instantly came to mind was if the church was not selling anything, why the hell would they need to register for a sales tax?!?! It makes absolutely no sense.
But that's besides the larger point. What is even more aggravating, looking at the fundamental principles that are at play here, is the fact that the government has a total disregard for morality. Charity is something that is done voluntarily. The church in this case acted upon its own judgement and decided that they wanted to contribute to their community by providing drinks for people marching in the parade. That is their right! The act of giving charity is moral because it is a voluntary action that does not violate the rights of others. It's odd that the government would require someone to acquire a permit for such a transaction when the government's idea of helping people is initiating force against its citizens (and thus violating their rights), in order to redistribute wealth to those people and causes it decides are worthwhile. And it does so on quite a large scale. Aside from stealing from productive members of society to give to those who are in need (via coercive income taxation funneled to welfare programs), the government forces people to provide welfare to other nations (foreign aid) and corporations that we may not necessarily support, and even worse, in some cases the money is wasted (i.e. Solyndra). To put it simply, the way the government does business is mind-thwarting, as it replaces each individuals rational judgment with the judgement of bureaucrats who feel they know better.
You know America is in a moral crisis when "We the People" need permission from the government to help our fellow man. I cannot think of anything more disgusting than having to ask an entity guilty of actively initiating force against me on a daily basis for permission to deal with others voluntarily. We have officially entered the twilight zone!
This very topic reminds me of a great quote from Penn Jillette:
In closing, I only have one thing to say to the government when it comes to the charity I choose to engage in: IT'S NONE OF YOUR GOD DAMN BUSINESS!
