THE ISSUE: RELAY FOR LIFE AT HILLSDALE COLLEGE
Cancer fundraiser aids non-profit's campaign for universal health care
Joseph McCleary Special to The Collegian
Issue date: 9/11/08 Section: Opinion
The American Cancer Society continues to fund universal health care propaganda with your Relay For Life donations. In the past year, the ACS has aired TV commercials, hired a rapper and created a new portion of its Web site to disseminate its partisan view.
Partisan politics is no place for non-profits. I don't care what they fund, be it free-market think tanks or anti-free-market health care propaganda. Non-profit cancer organizations should stay out of politics and keep Relay For Life money out of political lobbying.
Yet the ACS has continued to meddle in universal health care propaganda for over a year now with their $15 million advertising campaign.
Betsy McCaughey, the former lieutenant governor of New York, wrote in the Wall Street Journal last year, "The Society will devote this year's entire advertising budget to a campaign for universal health coverage."
A year later, here is what the ACS has accomplished with the $15 million advertising budget made up of your and others' Relay For Life money:
First, the ACS aired TV commercials across the country saying that we should petition the U.S. government for universal health care access. They spent millions of dollars to get out this message.
Second, the ACS hired Mike-E to rap about universal health care in "Learn.Speak.Act." This music video is posted on the American Cancer Society's Web site and YouTube. Mike-E raps:
"You are among the masses,
One of 47 million people without healthcare access,
Focus on the laws that musts be enacted,
Visit cancer.org to learn, speak and take action,
Because we all deserve health care access"
Here Mike-E is saying that we should petition government to provide health care access universally. He also says that the American Cancer Society is here to help you speak out and take action in getting politicians to vote for universal health coverage.
Third, the ACS hired web designers to develop a new section of their website solely devoted to providing information about health care access. The ACS claims that they are not directly supporting "socialized medicine," but instead are "educating the public about the issue." You can make your own decision about what exactly the ACS is advocating and funding if you visit www.cancer.org/access.
Lastly, the ACS has a political action lobbying group called Citizen Action Network that lobbies in Washington. One of the ACS CAN initiatives is "Increased Government Funding of Cancer Research." Basically, ACS uses donations to push for increased taxes on the donors.
The ACS has a long history of helping people. Moreover, the ACS continues to help many people. Yet I would prefer to give my money to an organization that spends the entire donation on aiding cancer victims and funding cancer research.
Therefore I will be giving my Relay for Life donations to another organization, the Children's Cancer Research Fund. It is a group that has done great things for cancer victims and spends my entire donation on the cancer victims and research - not political propaganda.
I would also encourage the Hillsdale College administration and GOAL office to replace Relay for Life next year with another cancer awareness event sponsored by a non-political organization.
Partisan politics is no place for non-profits. I don't care what they fund, be it free-market think tanks or anti-free-market health care propaganda. Non-profit cancer organizations should stay out of politics and keep Relay For Life money out of political lobbying.
Yet the ACS has continued to meddle in universal health care propaganda for over a year now with their $15 million advertising campaign.
Betsy McCaughey, the former lieutenant governor of New York, wrote in the Wall Street Journal last year, "The Society will devote this year's entire advertising budget to a campaign for universal health coverage."
A year later, here is what the ACS has accomplished with the $15 million advertising budget made up of your and others' Relay For Life money:
First, the ACS aired TV commercials across the country saying that we should petition the U.S. government for universal health care access. They spent millions of dollars to get out this message.
Second, the ACS hired Mike-E to rap about universal health care in "Learn.Speak.Act." This music video is posted on the American Cancer Society's Web site and YouTube. Mike-E raps:
"You are among the masses,
One of 47 million people without healthcare access,
Focus on the laws that musts be enacted,
Visit cancer.org to learn, speak and take action,
Because we all deserve health care access"
Here Mike-E is saying that we should petition government to provide health care access universally. He also says that the American Cancer Society is here to help you speak out and take action in getting politicians to vote for universal health coverage.
Third, the ACS hired web designers to develop a new section of their website solely devoted to providing information about health care access. The ACS claims that they are not directly supporting "socialized medicine," but instead are "educating the public about the issue." You can make your own decision about what exactly the ACS is advocating and funding if you visit www.cancer.org/access.
Lastly, the ACS has a political action lobbying group called Citizen Action Network that lobbies in Washington. One of the ACS CAN initiatives is "Increased Government Funding of Cancer Research." Basically, ACS uses donations to push for increased taxes on the donors.
The ACS has a long history of helping people. Moreover, the ACS continues to help many people. Yet I would prefer to give my money to an organization that spends the entire donation on aiding cancer victims and funding cancer research.
Therefore I will be giving my Relay for Life donations to another organization, the Children's Cancer Research Fund. It is a group that has done great things for cancer victims and spends my entire donation on the cancer victims and research - not political propaganda.
I would also encourage the Hillsdale College administration and GOAL office to replace Relay for Life next year with another cancer awareness event sponsored by a non-political organization.
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