People Who Want Your Money

Ninety per cent of telephone calls I receive are from people who want my money. By that I mean, they are soliciting funds for supposedly one good cause or another, and the majority are requests for political contributions to support campaigns which supposedly will aid me through the establishment of better government. Similarly, 90% of my mail is in the same category.
    

As mentioned, most of these are requests for political money, but those that draw on my heartstrings through cruelty to animals, blinded and wounded veterans, cancer etc. are not insignificant.
    

As I have thought about it, most of these requests for compassionate money do not make sense except possibly for lining the pockets of the organization leaders. It is my understanding that we have the greatest medical support for our military in the world. Through our taxpayer and government borrowed funds, we have veterans hospitals and other medical facilities, which presumably are doing their job. I've never heard of a blinded or otherwise wounded veteran, who has been denied reasonable medical and psychiatric attention by the Military. Why then do we need private organizations to solicit funds to do the same thing?.
    

Similarly for animal cruelty. It is my understanding that every US community government has at least one person responsible to enforce local regulations concerning animal cruelty, and we periodically see in the TV news cases where enforcement has resulted. If we're doing this on a socialized basis, why do we need to have it done by private industry, which means your personal money?.
    

Let's also take cancer, or diabetes, or blindness. The Federal government, through the National Institute of Health, has spent billions of dollars and continues to spend billions of dollars on cancer research and these other diseases. Again, this money comes from your taxes and federal borrowing against your future. Why again, do we need private industry to further support this work?
    

Lastly, let's consider political solicitations. The simple philosophy behind these requests is that by the presentation on the phone or through the mail, you will be convinced that the person or organization requesting the funds will establish for you a better government, which will improve your life. Most of the solicitations involve description of the educational background of the candidate, his experience in government or private industry, any other claims to fame, and finally an indication of his personal beliefs in government, which may include reducing the size, or making it more efficient, etc. Some of this information is useful, in that you can use it to ultimately decide on what lever you press in the voting booth, but that is not the point of his solicitation. He wants money for TV advertising and to support a staff of promoters which hopefully will increase the number of voters who will vote for him. Most people fall for these solicitations and make contributions, which gives them the general feeling of having done something to aid in establishing better government for themselves and for the people. This is usually a misguided effort. The people who actually profit from these contributions are individuals personally involved in the campaign and especially the various TV advertisement broadcasting concerns.

     

It is well known in charity giving that specific help to those in need is the most effective technique. Contributions to organizations soliciting funds and taxes to government for dispersal to "needy" are primarily wasted. It is granted that finding those in need is usually more difficult than writing a check in response to e-mail solicitation from an organization, but there is a great difference in effectiveness. Do you have a cleaning woman or a gardener working for you? Have you discussed her/his finances to see whether he could use a little extra financial support through raising his rates. Have you discussed with him the pitfalls of scams involving the less educated victims and those least able to support losses? Does he have children, some of whom may be particularly bright and need support for education? What about the young person carrying out your groceries at the supermarket? Does he have a career desire, which you can help accomplish? Have you talked with him enough to know whether this would be putting money down a rat hole? You may say, "Well, no. I don't have time". Would you have time to just write a check to an organization, which will likely waste your money, because maybe it will do some good?
    

This is the political season and requests for campaign funds are rampant. Considerations on how you spend your money should be the same as how you would spend it on charity. Be specific for individuals and organizations and know something about them. What are they actually doing, other than just tell you what they plan to do?. Writing a check to the Republican Party is probably in the same category as writing a check to the cancer fund. They already have plenty of money. In most cases, they just don't properly spend it. It is more likely that you would be better able to decide how how your money and should be spent.
    

As an example, I heard on television this morning Jay Sekulow of the American Center for Law and Justice. His basic message in the discussion with the news anchor was that the number of criminal investigations of the Wall Street crowd is the lowest in many years, in spite of the fact that Pres. Obama and his cabinet have especially targeted those people for any lawbreaking. It doesn't cost Sekulow anything to be on TV as a guest, and I've heard him a couple of times. He is obviously doing good work in pressing the Administration to do its job of law enforcement. He hasn't asked me for money, and I haven't sent him any. But I would do so before I would send it to the Republican National Committee, which is basically noncommittal on anything it does. Rather than just writing a check, phone J. Sekulow at 1.800.684.3110. Be specific. Ask him what his latest project is. Tell him what you're interested in and ask how any money you send him might be used for an item of your interest. After that discussion, you then decide whether to forget the whole thing or write him a check for X dollars.
    

Are you interested in a specific candidate. If so, don't start by writing a check. Start with a phone conversation, and when you are satisfied that your money will be well spent, you then write the check.