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The recent revelation that John McCain didn’t know how many houses he had posed many questions to me. Given that McCain has so much money and he’s such a great person, what are his philanthropic contributions? Is he giving money to fight AIDS in Africa? Since he admires civil rights leaders so much, is he giving to the United Negro College Fund? Maybe he’s donating to funds for disabled veterans or POW’s given his background.

McCain has net assets of between 20 and 32 million dollars. How much of that money went to charity? Less than a million. What charity did he donate to? His own. What does his charity do? Give money to the elite private schools his kids attended. McCain received tax deductions for giving money for helping the rich white private schools his kids attended.

What does this have to say about McCain’s priorities, especially in a slumping economy? AIDS in Africa is not as important as the need for his kids to have an extra swimming pool at their private school. The failing public school system doesn’t matter when his kids need new boats for their crew team. Disabled and homeless vets aren’t important when his daughter can’t take a class trip to the Bahamas.

You can learn a lot about McCain’s priorities from his charitable donations. He’s not concerned about poverty; domestic or world, he’s not concerned with education, other than that of over-privileged white children and he’s not concerned with the struggles of veterans unless he’s trying to exploit them for political gain. McCain’s tax plan is quite similar to his charitable donations, ignoring the poor and needy while giving money to the rich and over-priveleged.

While the vast majority of McCain’s charitable tax deductions have gone to elite private schools, a little bit of the money has gone to other places. In 1994 Cindy McCain admitted that she solicited painkillers from physicians who worked for her charity. Mrs. McCain was investigated by the DEA after a member of her charity let them know about her indiscretions.

Despite the fact that his wife struggled with drug addiction, McCain has been a hawk in the war on drugs, advocating for stricter drug laws and penalties for both users and sellers. I guess its okay to get high if you exploit your wealth and position in a charity to get drugs but if you a working class person looking for cheap high, you got to go to jail. Still I can understand why Cindy McCain was on drugs. If I was a woman with a hot tempered husband who called me a cunt and volunteered me to be in a wet t-shirt contest, I’d be on drugs to.

If McCain really understood and cared about what’s really going on in the economy, what poor working class people were going through and was a compassionate person, wouldn’t he give some of that money to a charity that actually helps people who are struggling? Not over-privileged rich kids, his children included, or one that helps his wife get pills for her drug addiction?