13 November 2008
Girl Scouts Endorses Political Agenda. Kind of.
Posted by admin under: politics .
I’m a little confused by Amy Menefee’s Galen Institute commentary. After poking around a bit I could see that this institute is a conservative one.
The Galen Institute is a non-profit research organization devoted exclusively to health policy. We work to promote a more informed public debate over ideas that advance individual freedom, consumer choice, and competition in the health sector.
So, should I automatically discount the fact that they’re saying Girl Scouts of America is part of a group that has a political agenda in favor of increasing the role of the federal government in the health care industry?
Politico reported Nov. 12 that groups eager to see universal health care in America are spending tens of millions and dispatching armies of people to further their cause. At the top of the list: labor unions and the AARP.
According to Politico: “‘For 100 years, we’ve been trying to enact universal health care coverage, and we’ve failed,’ said Dennis Rivera, chairman of SEIU Health Care, which represents the union’s 1.2 million health care workers.”
…
The SEIU and AARP are members of another coalition, Divided We Fail, which also has engaged the National Federation of Independent Business and the Business Roundtable in championing comprehensive health reform. That group includes Girl Scouts of the USA, the Human Rights Campaign, and the American Psychological Association, to name a few. The Divided We Fail platform is a vague call for “affordable health care” for all.
I went through the Divided We Fail site and it’s pretty vague. The only thing I worry about is that it does seem to be a political advocacy group, whether or not you can tell what they stand for. So, why would the Girl Scouts of the USA want to be part of that? Is it because the group doesn’t explicitly say it is liberal or conservative? I’m not sure, but I don’t think it’s a good idea.
The GSUSA should quietly remove itself from this Divided We Fail group. Being in favor of sunlight and roses isn’t a bad thing, but it doesn’t accomplish anything, either. As soon as Divided We Fail takes a stand on a concrete issue, it is almost assured that the stand will be opposed by one of the political parties. Then, the GSUSA will find itself in opposition to a party while having hundreds of thousands or millions of current members’ families that belong to that political party.
There just doesn’t seem to be any upside to joining this coalition unless the GSUSA already knows that Divided We Fail will never take a stand on an issue. That seems pretty naive, if believed. So, it’s best just to let our members decide for themselves what they want to do in regards to health care and not turn Girl Scouts into political activists.
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