Fred Thompson Gets It Right on Christian Charity

This is probably the best approach I've heard to government's role in dealing with disease, research and social maladies:

LADY'S ISLAND, S.C. -- Mixing theology and social issues on the campaign trail is rare for Fred Thompson, but he discussed it today answering a question from a member of the audience.

A woman asked him if he would “as a Christian, as a conservative” continue President Bush’s programs to combat global AIDS.

“Christ didn’t tell us to go to the government and pass a bill to get some of these social problems dealt with. He told us to do it,” Thompson said.


“The government has its role, but we need to keep firmly in mind the role of the government, and the role of us as individuals and as Christians on the other.”

He received a round of applause for his answer, and went on to expand on the role of government in fighting AIDS and other diseases.

“I’m not going to go around the state and the country with regards to a serious problem and say that I’m going to prioritize that,” he said.

“With people dying of cancer, and heart disease, and children dying of leukemia still, I got to tell you – we’ve got a lot of problems here, and we all may have our one that’s affected us the most, but it’s a broad array. And a president who will tell you the truth is that we have to look across the board and do what we can and what we should based upon the severity of the problem and the chances that our research money will do some good in these areas.”

Exactly! That deserves a standing ovation!

For years we've been told that we had to pour millions and billions into whatever the politically correct disease of the day was (in other word, AIDS). However, it's well known that most people who get AIDS in this country get it because of their own bad decisions, and now they want the government to solve their problem. Intravenous drug use, unsafe sex, etc. No amount of goverment dollars is going to fix stupidity. And if by some miracle government research did find a cure, do you think that would result in less or more stupid behavior?

It really bugged me when Hillary Clinton spoke at the AIDS Conference at Saddleback Church and got a big ovation because she promised to take more money from the pockets of Americans and put it into AIDS research and treatment in foreign countries. I don't believe that's a legitimate role of government.

Meanwhile there were other people suffering from ailments right here at home that could really benefit from government dollars but they didn't have rock stars holding concerts in their honor and couldn't get the attention they deserved. It's time to prioritize and not make decisions based on how many movie stars support something.

That's it - I'm a Fred Head again! Go Fred!