That way, everyone would be getting something on Valentine's Day and nobody would feel left out. Of course, that's a silly idea. The Beatles noted that money can't buy love, and that's the real point of a day like Valentine's Day. If you got a government-provided card on Valentine's Day, you wouldn't feel like anybody really cares about you. You'd know that some bureaucrat had your name on the list of single people and spent other people's tax money to get you a meaningless Hallmark greeting just so you wouldn't feel left out.
Love is the real gift, and no government program can distribute that.
The same thing goes for love of fellow human beings. Simply getting food stamps or a voucher for housing costs in the mail doesn't compare to true compassion and caring from one person to another. And you can't force compassion any more than you can force any other emotion. That a portion of my money is taken from me by force through taxation and then given to someone who is poor doesn't equal a compassionate act, either on my part or the government's. This is why it confuses me that President Bush, who claims to be a compassionate fellow, would want to get the federal government more involved in publicly funding private charities.