September 29, 2009 at 6:11 am
· Filed under Civil Rights, Ecomonic Issues
Imagine this: you witness a crime. You actually see someone stealing from your neighbors house when they are not at home. So you telephone the police and report the robbery. Your neighbors come home, find that their house was vandalized and robbed. They report the crime to the police. The police arrest you.
Think that is absurd? Think that cannot happen? Just ask Acorn. Last year Acorn was accused of “voter fraud” when it was reported that some people had filled out false voter registration forms. Actually some pranksters had filled in names like Donald Duck on registration forms and turned them in for registration. Acorn discovered the prank forms and reported them to voting officials. The press picked up the story and several political commentators accused Acorn of voter fraud.
Aside from the fact that actual voter fraud only occurs when a false voter actually votes, the only damage has been to Acorn’s reputation. Not one state voting official presented false ballots from erroneous registrations handled by Acorn. The main stream media, however, just ran the story and never investigated it.
Acorn is a troublesome organization. This organization serves several functions: advising the poor about available social services; assisting the unemployed with finding jobs; helping underemployed persons obtain training to improve job skills; and, assisting local governments with voter registration. Acorn is a non profit organization with no real power other than helping people. The Acorn work force is heavy with volunteers.
Most of the tasks listed for Acorn are actually the job of local government. Local government is, of course, limited by the tax dollars allotted by their budget, which is paid by the voters. In that sense, Acorn appears to fill a definite need,
The problem, however, is that Acorn does irritate powerful and wealthy people. When Acorn registers poor people and encourages them to vote they tend to vote for candidates who support their causes, usually liberals and democrats.
Working with poor people results in Acorn wanting to raise the minimum wage. That puts them up against businessmen who do not like the minimum wage. Acorn keeps pushing since the people they serve are close to starvation.
So, what do we do about Acorn? I suggest that we need Acorn as it saves us tax dollars and performs services that must be done. Maybe we should get off their back and praise them for their good work.
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Sarah Puglisi said,
September 30, 2009 @ 5:12 am
Pretty much I’ve come to a couple conclusions.
The teachers union voted largely for “liberal” causes =so public ed and that group have suffered nothing but non stop contempt/control/dismantling. Well look at the free press too. It’s not even clear to me now why this isn’t at least seen under Obama, but those forces seem completely in place and replicating, driven as they were the last eight years.
That said I’m not sure if this public ed destabilizing and the “changes” produced better education, well I know how it looked in my CA hood school, I can see it produced narrow test driven ed for the poor. And reduced a teaching staff by and large by drving out the older women to a bunch of rules following, silent and mentally taxed folks that cannot seize the content and do much more lacking any literature or much else…in short it removed the questioning mind and replaced it with one that can, possibly, one day allow anything.
Acorn kind of represents a group, for me, that has responded to the growth of I’ve seen in people unable to cope- by attempting to direct the poor, the undereducated, toward UNDERSTANDING how the games are played. and directing them to do something. If you want to really understand some people listen to the politicians giving the contemptuous talks about Acorn, their sneering, hostile, viperous speech stuff. Then kind of look up what they as a group really actually do. A little reconciliation like that in public ed might be nice too.
I can’t be “tested” for all the affirmation and support I give,the social roles I take on, but it still mattered in kids from violent, broken homes. As a teacher I spend thousands out of pocket with nothing- not even a tax break- but again just told to do my “job.” Have high standards or get out….and that’s what they really want-a revolving 5 year teacher door-no salary increases over time, no retirement, nothing like continuity, no one to stand up to leadership, no tenure. They say they fear “bad teachers” but more they fear effective ones with voices.
I certainly draw the parallels because I see really while I work with the poor, not that I’ve had much ACORN contact-I wish they were in my area working, I see how it’s going. I looked them up a long while past and figured that their work with organization of those in need probably scared some folks.
You wouldn’t want to put a human face on those who got less -while others had more or allow them to talk to you. And to get people politically active-I guess that’s quite contemptuous in these so called political folk.
They might not hold the notions you’ve standardized and assigned.
I like this quote, “Acorn is a troublesome organization. This organization serves several functions: advising the poor about available social services; assisting the unemployed with finding jobs; helping underemployed persons obtain training to improve job skills; and, assisting local governments with voter registration. Acorn is a non profit organization with no real power other than helping people. The Acorn work force is heavy with volunteers.”
I’m glad you chose to talk about Acorn, my mom and I were just discussing their work. When you look at that, it gets kind of hard to sit and hear the outraged congressional/olitical blowing that objects to trying to go work with those who need it.