Long on rant

Much to my surprise, someone besides Taylor actually read my blog. Since it is late and I don't have anything else to "rant" about, I figured I would respond to a comment left in response to my post regarding ending African poverty. The quote is as follows, "long on rant, short on specifics. prove that republicans work as hard for the non-rich as democrats. i bet you can't."

#1 This is my blog. Its purpose is to provide me with an outlet to publicly "rant" about everything I see wrong with the world. I'm not trying to "prove" anything, especially not to people who have an obvious political agenda dictated by partisan politics.

#2 If you actually carefully read my comments, you would know that I have never stated that the Republican party works harder for the "non-rich" (how you define this term, I have absolutely no idea). My underlying point is that many leading politicians are guided completely by partisan politics and personal expediency. To generalize, I don't believe Republicans do as much as they can for the poor. However, casual observation of Democratic leaders leads me to the conclusion that Democrats spend much more time criticizing Republicans for not helping the poor than they actually spend helping the poor. Collectively, I truly don't think either group gives a flying crap unless it helps to increase their political power. I am now going to transition my comments from POLITICAL PARTIES to INDIVIDUAL PEOPLE. It is not possible to prove whether liberals or conservatives do more as individuals to help the poor. I am simply tired of the mainstream news media happily propagating the assumption that because one is conservative he or she doesn't care about the welfare of the world. It is simply not fair or accurate. I am quite conservative, and I care deeply about those who are less fortunate. I give over 10% of my income to a charitable religious organization that uses the money directly for humanitarian aid. There are many conservatives who give far more than me. Do conservatives give more than liberals? Who knows, who cares. The point is that the assumed liberal monopoly on humanitarianism covertly and overtly presented by the media is a load of partisan political crap that does nothing but create division among individuals who could actually make a difference in the world just stop arguing and work together to solve problems.

#3 Just as a side note. Here is a link to an interesting article about GW Bush and poverty in Africa. I will readily agree with many criticisms of Bush, but apathy towards extreme poverty in Africa is not one of them.