For a long time, any mention of ACORN in the news failed to interest me. It’s pretty much unavoidable at this point, though, because ACORN has gotten so wacky that I can’t help but discuss the situation.
For those of you who aren’t up to speed on the situation, here it is really quickly:
ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, an avowedly leftist organization which receives taxpayer funding, has been busted. Two twentysomething investigative journalists by the name of James O’Keefe and Hannah Giles disguised themselves as a pimp and a prostitute, respectively. (Pictured to the right.) They said they wanted to set up a brothel using illegal-alien El Salvadorian sex slaves. (Or something absurd like that.) They further wanted to avoid paying taxes for their illegal business and raise money for O’Keefe’s congressional campaign. These two went into several ACORN field offices in many different cities, presenting them with their situation and wanting assistance. A few ACORN employees happily assisted them, offering advice on how to get around tax laws and how to dodge trouble with the law.
These two had a hidden camera and caught all of the antics on tape, which you can view readily on YouTube or practically any conservative web site. This was a huge story. So how does ACORN respond? Well, first they fired the involved employees, but now they’re suing O’Keefe and Giles.
Since I’m a new blogger, and this is a new blog, I should take a moment to put forth my stance on ACORN and what it stands for. A quick look at ACORN’s web site reveals what they are supposed to be all about. Their “issue campaigns” include “1) work to raise the minimum wage or enact living wage policies; 2) eliminate predatory financial practices by mortgage lenders, payday lenders, and tax preparation companies; 3) win the development of affordable housing and community benefits agreements; 4) improve the quality of and funding for urban public schools; 5) rebuild New Orleans; 6) and pass a federal and state ACORN Working Families Agenda, including paid sick leave for all full time workers.”
All of these causes are stupid. Briefly, because 1) the government should play no role in mandating the terms of totally private contracts. Minimum wage laws also eliminate jobs and put people out of work. Remember, being for minimum wage is being against jobs. 2) “Predatory financial practices” only occur if the “victim” agrees to the terms of the loan. What’s the problem here? Reason magazine recently featured a story (yet to be available online) about how payday lenders actually help the poor, and without them, the poor resort to more dangerous ways to make ends meet, such as failing ot pay their utility bills, etc. 3) The market provides affordable housing on its own. Almost every large city in the country has an apartment complex somewhere that you could pay for making the federal minimum wage. 4) Urban public schools can only be fixed by school choice and a few other solutions, NOT by throwing more money at the problem. That never has and never will work. 5) Okay, whatever. New Orleans will inevitably get destroyed again. Maybe it’s not the smartest place to put a city? 6) I don’t know what the ACORN Working Families Agenda is, but I’m almost positive that if I did know, it would label it a load of tripe not worthy of even passive consideration.
So ACORN should burn in the fire it has started around itself. Even if it weren’t corrupt, everything it stands for is nonsense. Since it IS corrupt, it needs to die twice over, ideally a slow and painful death. Based on the actions they’re taking, it looks like said death will in fact be slow and painful.
The always-insightful HotAir has pointed out three things about ACORN’s lawsuit:
In one fell swoop, the lawsuit (a) gives Fox a reason to keep covering the story, (b) presents a thorny legal issue that’ll attract media to the scandal who might not otherwise have touched it, and (c) makes ACORN look like they’re trying to punish people who exposed taxpayer-funded corruption. Which, of course, they are.
ACORN is being stupid. They’re going to make this an even bigger story than it already is, perhaps even making it big enough to be covered by something besides FOX, talk radio, and the right-wing blogosphere. Congress voted to de-fund them, and now they’re going to be destroyed in the court of public opinion. I’m not a lawyer, so I don’t know if they will win in the court of US law, but the alleged legal issue is (From FOX):
the audio portion of the video recorded there was obtained illegally, since Maryland requires two-party consent for sound recordings. The multimillion-dollar lawsuit cites “extreme emotional distress” on behalf of two workers who were fired after the video was posted online.
Like I said, I don’t know if they will win this suit, but even if they do, I think ACORN will go down in flames. Once they do, the world will be a better place for it.
QUOTE:
The multimillion-dollar lawsuit cites “extreme emotional distress” on behalf of two workers who were fired after the video was posted online.
Um, what caused more distress, getting a video posted or losing your job? In this economy, I’d say losing my job is WAY more traumatic than looking like a fool.
I’ll second that. I look like a fool every day, and I still manage. Now if I lost my job… things would be different.