Some interesteing facts from a new book, "Who Really Cares: The Surprising Truth about Compassionate Conservatism," by Arthur C. Brooks, an economist at Syracuse University:

• US families give $140 Billion per yer
• 75% of US families make charitable donations; $1800 on average
• The average US family gives 5 times the amount of the average German family and seven times the amount of the average Italian family.
• Conservative households gave 30% more than liberal households.
• This "giving inequality" is not a function of income: on average, liberal families annually earn 6% more than conservative families. Poor conservative families gave a larger percentage of income than wealthy liberal families.
• The average South Dakota family gives away 75% more of its income each year than the average family in San Fransisco.
• Conservatives are also 2 times as likely to donate blood than liberals.

These statistics suggest that there is a difference between real charity and government mandated "charity". Many mistakenly equate government welfare and private charity because the most obvious result (money moving towards the poor and needy) is the same. But there is much more, and much different, and if considered,