Charity Charity is essential to American life By Howard Husock October 11, 2021 05:46 PM Twitter LinkedIn Facebook Email Print Charity Charity is essential to American life By Howard Husock October 11, 2021 05:46 PM Twitter LinkedIn Facebook Email Print It is easy to take the extent of charitable giving in the United States for granted. It often gets mentioned only at the end of the year, when taxpayers are rushing to make donations in order to claim a charitable tax deduction, or, more recently, on Giving Tuesday, the “independent sector” version of Black Friday. Occasionally, one will read that Americans are the most generous people on Earth — which is certainly true, measured by the amount of GDP dedicated to charity (more than 2%, twice the EU average). But such observations vastly understate the ways in which charitable giving and philanthropy are crucial to the American system. This is true not only in terms of their effects, but equally how it reflects the liberties we enjoy and the ways in which they make charitable organizations and giving possible in the first place. It was, of course, Tocqueville who observed that the forming of community associations was a central and distinct aspect of American life: “Americans of all ages, all conditions, all minds constantly unite. Not only do they have commercial and industrial associations in which all take part, but they also have a thousand...