This is such a typical strawman argument that Liberals use to demonise conservative, and paint them as heartless.
As a conservative I have no problem with helping people out, and id be willing to bet if we compared tax returns, i donate as much, if not more than you do to charity. When i do hand money to someone though, I am very specific about where its going, the government doesnt want to put the same kind of controls in place, thus they create a permanent class of people who simply choose not to work.
Every year at Christmas time instead of buying presents for each other my family puts together what each person can afford, and my old man goes and talks to a priest he knows who works with alcoholics, and homeless people, he gives him the cash.
The main thing is when he gives Father Brad the cash to go work with people, he tells him to go and find people who are out there really trying to make a difference in their lives who are simply down and out on their luck, or people who want to make a legitimate change in their lives, or other lives. He also very specifically says he doesnt want any of the money going to someone who has no desire to change their lifestyle, or any desire to support themselves.
Thats the difference between conservatives and liberals, we believe in donating money to people who need it, but that is not a one way street in our view, they have to do something in order to deserve it as well.
Liberals believe in simply handing out money to anyone who doesnt have it, regardless of the situation, or who caused the person to be in that position, liberals create dependency, where as conservatives empower people to help themselves, if they so choose.
Look at a right wing economist like Dambisa Moyo, who has the courage to point out the fact that simply handing african countries money has been a complete and utter disaster, and it has caused them more poverty than gain, liberals seem to believe that if you just hand a person enough money, with no expectation, that the person is going to suddenly change their behaviour, when reality has consistently shown us that subsidizing poverty simply causes more poverty.
<iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/pXWIUg30Cpk?feature=player_detailpage" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
