Charity, Thy Name is Black-Redneck

Ok, had me a little pee-peeing contest over on FB with one of CW's pals, a Mr. Jim Rushton. Now I'm sure Jim is wonderful human being and a pillar of his community, but James tried to tell The Hammer et al. that liberals give as much to charitable organizations as conservatives and that America wasn't even in the top ten worldwide in giving. WELL, my bullshit-o-meter pegged immediately! I countered that based on my extensive knowledge of other peoples and cultures Americans were by far the most generous and that among Americans the less Christian the tighter the purse strings. Not so said Mr. Rushton. So, there it is, let's have a look shall we?

First let's talk about methodology. As I'm sure you know statistics are there to be fiddled and there are millions of ways to slice and dice the numbers. Given enough data I could prove most Iranians are George Bush Republicans. But let's be reasonable and factor in our own experiences with a little common sense. Numbers don't always tell the whole story they help us to understand the whole story, so here goes.

In America who gives the most? Jim and I both cited philanthropy.com which seems to make it their business to know this stuff. Here's an interactive map of American giving I found useful.

Now as you can see, total contributions tend to support Jim's assertion that liberal states give as much as conservative states (I refuse to use the blue vs. red analogy; we know who the REDS are and they ain't the conservatives!). But considering these states tend to have very dense populations, in my opinion this is the least useful statistic.

A better view is given by the percent given by all incomes chart. As you can plainly see, the more conservative, the more Christian, the more they give. New York represents the only New England state that gives much of anything, which considering the wealth of those states is just appalling!

Now let's take a look at an individual state, one with a fair amount of diversity and see what we come up with. And since I'm a Tar Heel (not to be confused with those OTHER Tar Heels) and since I know this state pretty well and since it meets our criteria I offer up North Carolina.

As you can see Durham, Forsyth, Wake and Mecklenburg along with the coastal counties are the stingiest with the dirt-bomb rural counties (the poorest) giving the most. I wonder why? From Horry County south of the border (Myrtle Beach) to Norfolk nothing but skinflint after skinflint. The reason is that happens to be where our Yankee friends tend to relocate (nobody from New York moves to Jones County; county seat Trenton, population 297). No they go to the cities and retire at our nice beaches... and apparently hoard their cash. But why Moore County? It's not close enough to Raleigh or Durham to be a bedroom community and it's kind of rural. What's up with that? Simple, Southern Pines and Pinehurst have attracted a ton of snowbirds in the past twenty years. Tightwad, miserable, penny-pinching, Country Club liberals who wouldn't give you the time of day.

Even more revealing have a look at this one. These are the zip codes for the Triangle area (Durham/Raleigh/Chapel Hill) including Johnston County. Look at 27520, Clayton. That is where many Northern liberals live (regrets to CW's sister, she lives there). Then look at 27610 in Wake County, home of the poorest of the poor black population in the entire area. Then on to 27513, Cary, NC, wall-to-wall Yankees with a yearly median income in 2011 of $82,500. Do I need to draw a conclusion for you?


Now, many will say these numbers don't give a true picture because conservatives and most especially rednecks and blacks give a lot to churches and religious organizations whereas liberals do not. Control for that and Massassassachusettes turns into a loving, caring, sharing kinda place we could all be proud of. WRONG! Are not contributions given to Planned Parenthood and NARAL counted? How about the Sierra Club or the Council On Islamic American Relations? Hell I would say NAMBLA money is in there somewhere. If I had to guess (and often times statistical analysis boils down to a good guess) I'd say they cancel each other out.

So, there you have it Mr. Rushton. I stand by my statement, the religious and conservative give FAR MORE than the Godless and liberal. What say you?

(Oh, I'll try to address the America vs. the World at a later date. Mustn't bite off more than we can chew.)