And the thing is, that idea perpetuates itself. Even here on FR, I've seen people demanding "their" programs get Federal money because "I'm paying a lot of taxes and my pet project should get some"--never realizing that this is the whole post-FDR entitlement trap: Make EVERYONE demand money for THEIR project--just one--and we've got trillions in "just my" projects needing to be funded.
Another thing about the lib/conservative gap in compassionate giving... I think part of the "perception" problem is that a lot of conservatives like us, do our charitable things and we do it quielty. The liberals tend to jump up and down and proclaim how charitable they are to anyone who will hear, go on Oprah and talk about all their good works--for all the wrong reasons of course--so people just think they must be doing it all the time. There are some celebs who don't go around talking about what they do, but the vast majority seem to do it just to get awards and accolades. I was raised not to boast about my giving and there's a good chance that most people wouldn't guess that I did do charitable things.
Are you paying any attention to social entrepreneurs? I have read two very interesting books about young CA me who set out to build schools in Afghanistan and Nepal. Three Cups of Tea is positive and inspiring. Then I saw a Sandy Weill interview and he referenced an org that has 450 inner city schools with 80% of students going to college. These are people who are attacking and solving problems themselves going around government and soliciting private financing.