ACORN`s Problems are the Government`s Problem
By Benjamin Pacini • Wednesday, December 9, 2009 3:30 pm
When the latest ACORN scandal broke, many conservatives started jumping all over each other to claim that ACORN was guilty of high levels of corruption. They are missing the point.
ACORN is a political foe, and it is easy to take potshots at such an organization. ACORN is certainly corrupt. After all, it has been in the middle of a remarkable embezzlement scandal, it has been accused of voter fraud, and it is has ties to Andy ‘I’m-not-a-lobbyist’ Stern and his gang of SEIU thugs.
The real story isn’t about ACORN’s corruption though. The real story is the story of a group that screwed up much worse: the federal government.
First off, ACORN should not be able to get government funding when it is a group of far-left organizations (it’s one thing for Fox News to be outrageous—it’s another for Fox News to be outrageous and government funded. ACORN is the latter.) Second, ACORN should not be getting funds from the government when its founding principles are entitlement, victimization, and success-hating populism. Third, the ‘ACORN doctrine’ of lower lending standards was one of the key components of the financial collapse; this is not just an issue of questionable ethics, but a larger one about government meddling in mortgage markets (which continues today). But most importantly, the government shouldn’t be giving our money to groups that can’t show that they are using those funds carefully.
In other words, the question is not whether ACORN is evil, but rather, if it were evil, how long would it have taken the government to catch on without the help of Ms. Giles and Mr. O’Keefe? The government takes taxpayer (read:your) money and gives it to groups willy-nilly, without maintaining control over the expenditure of its funds.
Thus, the recent reports that suggest that ACORN was incompetent are helpful to ACORN, but a strong blow to government’s credibility. These embarrassments will continue to occur, so long as the government continues to fund projects that are poorly maintained.
Given the number of grants that ACORN receives, and the amount of money that it gets from the government, it is hard not to be upset when politicians argue for higher taxes for ‘worthy causes.’ So remember the next time that someone says ‘we-need-the-death-tax-because-we’re-out-of-money’ or ‘capital-gains-taxes-go-to-help-the-poor’ that stupid taxes, more often than not, go to stupid spending projects. Like ACORN. And that the party at fault—and the group that needs to be held responsible—is not ACORN. It is the federal government.
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