Ann is on-board with Obama not helping his impoverished relatives because that would be bad for them. Ann says she's a liberal (law prof, Madison, it's a given) but she actually thinks that she's reinforcing her argument when she says:
Could it be that Obama practices Christian values? Jesus said:
Matthew 6
1 Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.
Holy Obama, Batman, she actually goes on to quote all of Matthew 6, verse 1 & 2! What was she drinking? The self proclaimed "moderate middle" has only just buried Jerry Falwell literally and Pat Roberson metaphorically when Althouse turns into a raving Christianist loon! Pretty soon I expect her to begin wearing a sandwich board proclaiming, "Repent, for the end is nigh!"
But not to worry, I support her on her major points and gently admonish her for breaking into a full throated hymn.
Here's my reply on her blog:
Ann Althouse defends Barack Obama for not helping out his impoverished relatives and I have to agree with her. First of all, Barack comes from a very large family in which the men had multiple wives and an even larger number of children, I’m sure it takes a village rather than a mere multi-millionaire who has raised nearly a billion dollars in contributions to help out all the assorted aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters, half brothers, half sisters, half aunts and half uncles and other even less related relatives all of whom may be in need either in Boston or Kenya.
Second, as Ann points out, it is not his fault that his relatives are living is squalor. He has not mistreated them, in fact he remarks on some of them in his autobiographies. And mentioning a relative in one’s autobiography does not obligate one to send a buck or two to keep up anyone’s shack in Nairobi or cold water flat in Boston. As Ann points out, handouts can keep these ner-do-wells from finding gainful employment and earning a living for themselves. As Ann has pointed out many times before, welfare of this kind is bad for society, especially if the welfare is administered by relatives. They are apt to keep coming back and making pests of themselves. Once this kind of thing begins, who knows, in the end Barack could end up supporting generations of lazy relatives and then where would he be?
I do have a rather major objection to Ann’s gratuitous reference to religion, specifically Christianity in her remarks. Religion has no place in discussions of public policy or private philanthropy in America. We must observe the injunction that we have separation of church and state and appeals to Christianity are no more than veiled attempts to impose a not-so-veiled attempt to impose a theocracy on America. No sooner has Jerry Farwell died than Ann is invoking the bible as a talking point. I am always surprised by the hidden theocrats that are found on college campuses.
It does little to advance the conversation to refer to Barack’s references to being his brother’s and sister’s keepers. We all know that in that Bible fable he was referring to the story of Cain and Abel. The one in which one brother murdered the other. What Barack meant to say was that he wanted to help his brothers and sisters out, but there was absolutely no reference to half-brothers or half-sisters and certainly no reference to half-aunts living in a slum in Boston.
So Ann, I’m on your side. No matter what anyone says charity is not an individual responsibility. If you can’t get congress to pass a welfare law, the hell with the relatives.
UPDATE: Ann seems to have a little trouble with a joke at her expense. In retribution she is taking to quoting scripture ... a lot. Her regular readers are noticing, and wondering what's going on.
Ann, what is with all the Bible quotes and attempting to prove that Obama is behaving the way a Christian should? It's disturbing.HEH.
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