75-02-B4
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Volunteerism
TranscriptA Frenchman had the last word on American charity, and it was over a hundred years ago. I'll be right back. Americans are in their time of discontent, perhaps more so than at almost any other time. In our history, our young people have heard in classrooms too much of what's wrong with America. Many of the rest of us yearn to feel once again that old Yankee pride we once had, that belief in ourselves and in our nation. The other day, I told you a story about a plane-load of citizens who spontaneously came to the aid of a destitute father and his crippled son. It was a heartwarming story, but it really wasn't unusual. We're still a generous people, more so than most and we put our money where our hearts tell us it should be. Every year in spite of all the billions of dollars in taxes taken for welfare, federal aid to education, subsidies for the arts, and cultural activities, we voluntarily contribute another 25 billion to do the same kind of good causes. There are some who would substitute government planning and government support for all this volunteer effort on our part. They lack confidence that we the people would care for the needy if government wasn't forcing us to do so. Well, some of us can still remember when foreign aid was voluntary. Sure, there was cooperation from government, but saving millions of Belgians from starvation after world war one was a volunteer citizens program. And so it was when Tokyo was devastated by an earthquake. We raised funds for starving Armenians, for victims of fire and flood and drought wherever they were in the world, and the image of America all over the world was of the great, generous, helpful neighbor. More than a hundred years ago, a Frenchman named Alexis de Tocqueville came to America fascinated by our democracy and our success. He wrote a book about us. He said to his French friends, "you may not believe this but in America when someone sees a problem that needs solving he doesn't call on government. He crosses the street and talks to a neighbor about it and the first thing you know a committee is formed and before long the problem is solved, without any bureaucrats being involved or any new government program started." unquote. Well, if we lose this particular facet of our American personality, and we can lose it, if we continue to ask government for help on things we really do for ourselves, something precious will be lost. Let's not substitute for charity the coercion of taxation. The next time you hear that line about things being too complex for us to handle without government help, that only big government has the capacity to do the really big things, don't you believe it. Here in this country we have more churches and libraries support more symphony orchestras more operas and more non-profit theaters with voluntary contributions that all the rest of the world put together. We have more doctors and hospitals in proportion to population than any other people and one-third of all the young people in the world who are getting a college education are getting it in this country. For that matter, if we double our present troubles we're still better off than people anywhere else in the world. This is Ronald Reagan. Thanks for listening. |
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