Quote:
|
Originally Posted by strandinthewind
On the one hand, I think Fed. money is best spent elsewhere. But, on the other, the provate faith based groups on the whole do a great job administering to the poor, caring for the sick, etc. So, it is a condundrum for me.
|
Extremely dangerous. Setting aside the issue of stave v. religion, the idea that that these organizations will start taking on the roles that belong in government agencies can only mean that poor people who need help the most will get screwed in the end. We are moving backwards by doing this.
James Madison warned about this kind of thing:
Madison founded Kerry's party and authored the Bill of Rights. In 1811, as President, he vetoed "An Act incorporating the Protestant Episcopal Church in the town of Alexander, in the District of Columbia." He gave several reasons for the veto, and closed with this still-applicable conclusion:
"Because the bill vests in the said incorporated church an authority to provide for the support of the poor and the education of poor children of the same, an authority which, being altogether superfluous if the provision is to be the result of pious charity, would be a precedent for giving to religious societies as such a legal agency in carrying into effect a public and civil duty."