Walter Williams, insightful as always, writes in “Not
yours to give/a” about using public funds for charitable causes.
No matter how laudable, it is not the role of the government to give
this money, nor is it efficient. Rather than spending this money
in this way, return it to us, and we, who are consistently proven
some of the most generous people on earth, can then give more of our
time and money directly, without the overhead of IRS, the rest of the
Treasury (is that a second DOT, or is it the Treasury Department, or
is it part of some other Department?), Congress, or any other civil
servant to drain some percentage out. Interestingly, he quotes
a number of public officials from our history who have agreed:
Tennessee Rep. Col. Davy Crockett, President Grover Cleveland,
President Franklin Pierce, Virginia Rep. William Giles, and President
James Madison all come down against public charity.