sjatkins, I have been wondering recently how Objectivism reconciles generosity with self-interest. Although I had read Ayn Rand's views on the subject, I did not know whether they were applied consistently in the lives of others. Once I heard the overwhelming "Yes!" from Gulchers, the question came to be how they applied self-interest to their generosity, and in what specific ways.
Does that answer your question?

Only in ones for funding types of research I care about such as anti-aging. I am working too hard to take what little of my earning government has left me to get my startup going to participate in charities of late.

I have supported many friends in hard times to my ability to do so. With some of them I am glad to have done so. With others, not so much.

Where is this question coming from? The mark of ethical praiseworthiness is not giving to charity. It is how much value you create given your abilities and resources.

I always return the nickel - all by its self!

The sad reality is that a great number of Americans simply aren't equipped, educationally, to handle their finances. And, those who don't know, can't teach their kids. This is important because the schools don't teach it. It works well for the leftists in charge in the long run, of course.

noted

Whether it's calculators, coins, one dollar bills or native American made trinkets, a lot of charities are out to inflict guilt trips.
I also have currently received several note pads I use to make shopping lists and address labels galore stacked in a box.
Do I feel guilty about not "chipping in" toward a cause for using something free sent to me in the mail?
Nope, nada, nein!

Thank you Sarah.

We know our services are much appreciated by the recipients. Several patients become frequent flyers (and personal friends) because of their required frequent follow ups, whether they be weekly, monthly or yearly.

". . . {S}pending too much time. . . ." This means several days or a week at a time.

Our flights are typically a quick turn around.(with an overnight stay if required) with the airport and ground facilities typically waiving the fees and offering discounted fuel.

Never an issue for those of us flying these legitimate charitable missions.

1) it is hard to distinguish people who are in need because of accidental misfortunes from which they are recovering thru their own actions- from looter types looking for a free handout
2). There are so many people walking the streets looking for handouts on the streets and expecting me to work so they don't have to.
3) there is so much money being taken by government from me and handed out to freeloaders

That I have just backed off from the whole charity thing

I wouldn't like my position if it was full of Sanders zombies.

it can't be like that, or our Dr. Jim Brenner would leave. -- j
.

BTW I avoid national charities like United Way and Red Cross.

I volunteer for the local Presbyterian Hospital. We volunteers do a variety of jobs and we reach out to the community by sponsoring arts & crafts fair (where the money is put back into gift cards for Wounded Warriors), we help the chaplain provide clothes for those who lose their clothes in ER, we adopt a needy family at Christmas, and we provide support (and comfort items) to cancer patients.
I like helping my community and I do contribute to St. Jude, a No Kill animal shelter, and Masons.

Fortunately it is illegal for anyone to send you unsolicited goods and force you to send it back or pay for it. But they must be raking in a lot sending out cheap "calculators" to buy guilt.

Most of your money is wasted by government, but worse is that it is used to support people and organizations that you oppose or explicitly do not regard as worth supporting. But you can't withhold taxes and substitute other recipients or they will put you in jail. Don't martyr yourself. Speak out against what they are doing and the altruism and collectivism used to rationalize interfering with or preventing your charity.

Yes, there is no duty to sacrifice. One of the consequences of the things you are forced to do in the name of charity is little or nothing, in time or other resources, left over for anything else, including charity you would like to support. Part of the resources required are the time and effort to investigate the proper use of your charity.

See the discussion on Ayn Rand's view on this elsewhere on this page https://www.galtsgulchonline.com/post...

Yes, that quote is from her 1964 Playboy interview. http://aynrandlexicon.com/lexicon/cha...

She did not say anything goes as long as you want to do it, did not say it is "from the heart", and did not say you have a duty for some percentage. It's to be approached rationally, by principle, and by goals, like other choices. You should help people you believe are worthy of the help, not just anyone in "need" because they are in need. You should not sacrifice more important personal goals of your own. And it should not be out of a sense of guilt -- charity is not a duty and not even a primary virtue. It's a social luxury affordable by the productive, as she put it in Letters of Ayn Rand.

The implications are that whatever you have left and can afford -- after having been looted by taxes for altruist sacrifices -- to help others out of benevolence towards them should be carefully directed, not turned over to just any organization claiming to be doing good. If the money is going to a cause like medical research, or education (such as the ARI books program), or a public interest law organization setting precedents (like PLF or IJ), make sure the organization is using the money wisely in accordance with the kinds of projects you want to support. When helping people directly make sure it is going to the kind of people you think are worthy of it. Doing it right in accordance with your goals is a responsibility. Otherwise charity becomes a sacrifice.

Watch where you go on angel flights. Several years ago a big controversy erupted over Maine because private pilots landing and spending too much time in the state were forced to pay a "use tax" substituting for sales tax on their planes that were bought out of state. This included pilots volunteering for angel flights. The airplane hijacking policy was cooked up by the state tax agency on its own, but neither the governor nor the legislature would stop it because they said the state needed the money.

It resulted in the national pilot's association boycotting the state. Years later the state supreme court overturned it, still at great cost to the victims who had to pay legal fees and give up the use of money retrieved years later. Even that legal decision was typically unprincipled, stating only that the agency's criterion for how long the planes remained in Maine was too short (and not even specifying a revised time limit). It was all so embarrassing that the subsequent Republican legislature rescinded the regulation. But kept the same regulation for yachts. "Me too but slower". Such is today's "charity".

Sarah, you are special. . please know that there are
many of us here in the gulch who love you. -- j
.

Well said. I spend quite a bit of my non-work time volunteering for organizations which provide services or research to combat conditions which have affected me in one way or another. I find that your statement #2 expresses much of what I get in return for that time.

If you give the money away, then it is altruism, which is definitely anti-Rand. This is an investment of sorts that I have a personal stake in, but it's an odd investment.

Thanks, johnpe1.

Good! My generation needs people like you to reach out and show how rational and logical the world can be.

Ugh! Your experiences seem to be horrible. I've received lots of mail with a nickel in it - I've never felt bad about taking that $.05. A penny saved is a penny earned, and same thing goes for nickels.

I will definitely apply to Florida Tech when my time comes - it seems to be a great college for science progress and logical thinking. What's the political atmosphere like? I watched a video where they interviewed University of Denver students about why the supported Bernie Sanders. Is Florida Tech like that?