I always ask the social justice advocates in my circle (principally my nephew who is still too young to know any better, and my best friend) if they think paying every higher taxes counts as “good works” in the eyes of God. They always look at me like I have three heads. Of course not. Well, that’s good, I tell them, because then otherwise people would be getting admitted into Heaven based on how much friggin’ federal tax they pay and not so much on what they give from their own hearts. The answer is always that people won’t give from their own hearts. Yet for all of recorded human history, this is exactly what happened. A drop off in charitable giving is inversely proportional to the rise of the welfare state. I can assure you that if I had more of my income to take home every month, I would give more than I already do. I dare say that’s true of most people, esp. Americans who are the most generous people on the planet.