What manner of insanity has crept into our President’s mind? What sense outside of a Machiavellian power grab does President Obama’s consideration of cutting tax deductions for charitable donations make in a time of economic difficulty?

In effect, Obama is saying that people need help…but not from you! Those in need must depend on Obama.

I understand that Obama has never had much use for charities in his personal life as he and his wife gave only $10,772 of the $1.2 million they earned from 2000 through 2004 to charities. That’s less than 1 percent of his income.

But it’s one thing to be stingy with your own money but to actually penalize others for doing so borders on Scrooge-ish.

And of course, the sane people who rationally describe that this move will curtail charitable giving are mocked. Marc Ambinder of the Atlantic rhetorically asked, “If tax reform down the line were to gut all deductions, would charitable contributions totally dry up?”

And then you get the dry humor. “If wealthy people want to give money, then they should give, regardless of tax benefits.”

So they’re in effect saying that the wealthy should give. But should and will are very different considerations. And since when is it ok for the government to moralize about what people shoulddo?

The utter hypocrisy is priceless in that these liberals are the same people who demonize the wealthy for not caring about the “working class” but are now saying that the wealthy shouldact like an army of Mother Teresas and continue giving despite getting punished for it by the same people who are moralizing to them.

Lowering the charitable deduction essentially acts as a government tax on charitable giving. And when you tax something you get less of it. When the federal government attempted to stop people from smoking they taxed it. It’s how the government incentivizes and de-incentivizes things. So the question arises – Why does Barack Obama want to punish charitable giving?

I fear we all know the answer. It is being done as a tool to redefine the political playing field, move the political center radically to the left and make the federal government not only the center of people’s lives but the wellspring of all munificence.

All roads, like Rome of old, must lead to Obama. Or they won’t get paved.