Red Cross Treasures

It was reported this morning that the Red Cross, facing a large deficit, is going to auction off decades worth of it's treasures. A considerable number of the more than 135,000 objects and books it has collected over the years will be sold on the block.

It is unfortunate that while Congress is debating a health care bill that will cost billions, an agency such as the Red Cross, a group with a well established track record of aiding the poor, the ill, and the suffering, is struggling to keep itself afloat. There are many groups with long and proven histories of providing health care and aid to the ill, the suffering, and the poor. Moreover, these groups get more out of every dollar than the federal government could ever hope to. So why are they being ignored and forgotten amidst the clamor for national health care reform?

No doubt, some of these private charities have religious affiliations which renders them anathema to public funding. The aid and care these organizations provide matters not. Their religious affiliation excludes them from federal funding. Perhaps it is believed that their religious affiliation taints their care. Perhaps it is feared that the charity and aid these organizations provide is simply a form of propaganda used to gain converts to their beliefs. Whatever the motives, it is believed by many that any public funding of the care provided by private and religious charities is not worth the protests, animosity, and lawsuits of the professionally aggrieved who quarrel over religion and "values" to the point of obsession.

But what of the many private, secular, and charitable organizations? What of the March of Dimes? What of the Shriners? What of all the other private organizations and charities that exist to help the poor, the suffering, and the ill? In many cases, they too, like religious organizations, are cable of providing more with less than any governmental service or bureaucracy can ever hope to provide. Why are these organizations being overlooked and neglected? Imagine what the Shriners could do with a a few million dollars; or Habitat for Humanity. Weigh this against the hundreds of millions being proposed in Washington for a national health care plan.

Most likely, private organizations and charities are shunned because they are unsuitable vehicles for government policy. Private groups have their own charters, procedures, and guiding principals. Where these groups refuse to reorganize or accommodate themselves to the political sensitivities of government, they are avoided. Lip service may often be provided for the admirable services offered by such groups, but funding is denied. If only a fraction of the funding proposed for national health care was redirected to private organizations that have proven themselves able and willing to tend to the public, much of the health care "crisis" that exists in this country would be alleviated.

The crux of the matter is the government never gives anything away. Federal money brings with it strings. Those strings are pulled by bureaucrats and politicians. Groups that would not allow themselves to be regulated or manipulated by government are of little benefit to politicians and interest groups beyond photo opportunities and press releases. Perhaps more importantly, many private groups and charities are largely beyond the reach of those who want to control and manipulate society to serve their own ends and ideals. And so, while the Red Cross has to auction some of its most treasured possessions to stay afloat, billions of dollars are on the table in Washington. But then again, national health care is not simply about aiding the poor, the suffering and the ill. It is also about helping politicians, special interests, and the middle class.