RE: Some New Adventures: ♪ Movin' on up! ♫ and Save the BASE!
It seems I have heard people comment countless times through my life about how many of the services offered by the government could be provided more effectively through charity. In my experience and the experience of many chronically ill and disabled people, that charity never actually happens, at least not on a meaningful scale and not still tainted by politics. Of course, I would love people to prove me wrong on this and see this service saved.
This is one of the best responses / explanations of this point I have ever seen. I have never been able to really reply to that statement. I truly truly like the idea of private entities being charitable and helping people, but if it could be done better, then why arent they just already stepping up and doing it better right now? My own times of need in my life have shown me time and time again that there just isnt adequate... well.. ANYTHING. I would just love to see anyone who thinks they have the solution to just go ahead and start implementing it because i dont care where it comes from, it would just be nice if services like BASE , or other types of community centers could exist in an easier way.
Exactly! There is nothing about our current system that is preventing people from replacing government aid with charity. In fact, our system attempts to incentivise charity. If you look at how disabled people were treated before government intervention, most were institutionalized, abused and denied proper healthcare because the general public wasn't willing to put the effort into ensuring we were part of society. Even with government intervention and the passage of laws requiring equal rights and opportunity to people with disabilities, many still aren't.
Charity providing better services than government programs has been proven to be a fallacy time and time again, because even in good economic times, most people are not very charitable. And when they are charitable, they tend to give their money to the big charities that absorb much of the money into their "operating expenses" instead of actually doing the charitable work.
Indeed. Charity has become big business.
I have often wondered what prevents people from being charitable. If it is a lack of empathy or maybe ignorance of the problems facing their neighbors, or if people think it wouldn't make a difference. I don't know. I am sure there are many reasons.
Given the multiple health problems encountered in my family, we have relied on the kindness of others to get by on more than one occasion, while waiting for more longterm solutions and you grow to appreciate that. Consequently, I try to give at least 15 dollars a month (though I have given a lot more to BASE since their fundraiser stated). I know it is not much, and given my financial situation, it is all I can usually do without actually putting it on a credit card. However, I also know that a little bit can really make a big difference. Especially if you have a lot of people giving.