A writer to your commentary section must enjoy beating dead horses.
Perhaps he failed to notice that the electorate realized that the masses of people suffering from this recession need and deserve help, and rejected his tightwad ideas. At one time he billed himself as the leader of the local, ill-fated Tea Party, which I am pleased to report, has apparently fallen below the radar.
Back in May he wrote in the OBSERVER "'Doped' on Welfare at age 8," which purported that an unnamed child in an unnamed city told an unnamed Congressman that his dream was to have "money come in the front door."
The writer then went on to rail against all forms of public assistance and safety nets and claimed that the Bible supported him, which happens to be quite untrue. His latest column "Giving spirit in election" (Dec. 8) continues the theme, basically parroting Romney's unfortunate 47 percent quote.
I find it interesting that, in addition to his Scrooge-like positions, this fierce opponent of non-taxpayers is in an "industry" that benefits mightily from its tax-free status.
Churches and other religious institutions are exempt from most taxes, including real estate, business and capital gains. According to USA Today, this amounts to about $71 billion per year, which must be made up by: the 53 percent of us who pay taxes. That 53 percent works out to about $430 per taxpayer. Quite a nice gift to the writer and his ilk.
Since we taxpayers are so generous to him, he might consider loosening up his own purse strings.
As I understand it, nonprofits such as churches are required to refrain from political activity, in which the writer seems to enthusiastically participate.
I am not one to determine the legality of this, but he could refer to himself without the title before his name. Legal or not, it fails to pass the sniff test.
Additionally, I suspect that if the writer polled his congregation, he would find that a fair number are receiving some form of government assistance. Food stamps, unemployment compensation, disability payments, welfare and Social Security, and some of that ends up in his collection plate. So he is the indirect recipient of the programs he complains about.
I am not a Christian, but I would suggest that the writer study this verse: The righteous care about justice for the poor, but the wicked have no such concern. Proverbs 29:7.
Dennis Wilson is a Forestville resident.
