Madonna's homeless brother

We don’t know the details of the relationship between Madonna and her homeless brother. We can be fairly certain that they do not get along and that Madonna does not believe that he is a proper recipient of her charity.

The interesting thing about this situation is this: Madonna is a fairly typical Liberal who advocates government programs to help the poor and down-and-out, like her brother. Government programs, unlike private charity are not allowed to differentiate between what was once called the “deserving” poor and the “undeserving” poor. When our tax dollars are used by government to spend money on people like Madonna’s brother we are not allowed to ask if he deserves our support; he simply gets it because he qualifies. The government is not allowed to get as granular as that. And, frankly, I don’t trust the government employee to make those distinctions. But to the Liberal, the government program is “good” and ever more of it is demanded.

On the other hand, Madonna has determined that her homeless brother does not deserve her help for some reason. Getting fired from a family business gives us a clue, but is not definitive. Madonna is using her knowledge of her brother to decide whether to support him or not. She is familiar with the details of his situation; her decision is based on her determination that he does not deserve her charity.

This is a fascinating case of the Liberal mind. The inability to see that there are no “people” only persons. Each has a story and a problem. For some, a helping hand financially may be the answer. For others the gift of faith may be worth more than all the money in the world. The old adage about not being able to see the forest for the trees, can also be turned around; many cannot see the trees for the forest.