Yet more evidence that greedy Americans aren’t so greedy, afterall; and that compassion and charity needn’t be legislated:

Donors contributed an estimated $295.02 billion in 2006, a 1 percent increase when adjusted for inflation, up from $283.05 billion in 2005…Individuals gave a combined 75.6 percent of the total. With bequests, that rises to 83.4 percent.

That works out to an average of about $1,000 per capita – for every man, woman, and child in the country. Almost all of the money comes from individuals and their estates. This money goes to fund what most people, most of the time, would think of as “good causes.” Some people give far more than $1,000, and of course, some people don’t give anything; these are primarily the very people who constitute a “good cause.”

The argument, afterall, is that people are cold and callous, self-motivated – and that they will not help their fellow man unless they’re forced to do so by the barrel of a gun. The continued existence of private charity disproves the myth of selfishness in one fell swoop.

Anyone who wants to increase taxes – especially the Estate tax – wants to see private charity replaced by government. There is no third solution (LOL). If they do not wish to eliminate private charity, then they suffer a serious misconception with regards to basic metaphysics: every dollar taken by government is a dollar that cannot be given to charity. And every charity that shuts its doors will become the next rallying cry for more government “solutions” you see, because charity will no longer be enough.