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ACORN changes its name

                The controversial group Association of Community Organizers for Reform Now, orACORN, has changed its name to Community Organizations International. The group also threatens a lawsuit to any person who speaks ill of the group, especially if they were former members, which many claim is in attempt to silence dissenters who may threaten the organization’s future. The organization has been investigated in no less than 14 states in relation to voter fraud and members of ACORN have admitted in court to voting multiple times in swing vote states and to registering deceased people, criminals, and those who were not directly contacted by the organization, to vote. Dale Rathke, a prominent member and brother of Wade Rathke, the founder of ACORN, embezzled about $1 million through ACORN partner and New Orleans, Louisiana based non-profit Citizen’s Consulting Inc (CCI). ACORN members were one of the organizations behind a push for President Barack Obama’s election and were used to get citizens to register, many in poor and inner-city neighborhoods, and were behind the Project Vote campaign. 

                40% of ACORN funds come from federal and state funding (meaning your tax dollars), and during the recession last year, they received $11 million, which is enough to keep over 100 teachers in a job. Because Project Vote is a non-profit, it is not supposed to promote partisan activities, but even a lawyer of ACORN, Elizabeth Kingsley, could not confirm whether the Project Vote campaign was conducted in a non-partisan manner or not, and many who have come across Project Vote volunteers feel that it was not. There were also rumors that President Obama was once a “leadership trainer” for ACORN.

                ACORN was formed from the old National Welfare Rights Organization (NWRO) that staged protests at welfare offices during the 1960s. The NWRO’s goal was to eliminate welfare eligibility restrictions, which would mean that anyone could get on the public dole. They wanted to get as many people as possible on welfare, until it caused a radical restructuring of the United States governmental system, and they wanted that shift to move towards a socialistic one. NWRO, and subsequently ACORN, believe that capitalism, the economic system that has allowed our country to move forward to the point that it has, is evil and does not allow the majority to flourish, despite all evidence to the contrary. When appearing on the Bill O’Reilly show on Fox News, O’Reilly asked leaders of ACORN outright if they believed in socialism. The women refused to answer the question.  Sol Stern, who wrote an article on ACORN in City Journal, called ACORN an “undisguised authoritarian socialism”. Some have even made a claim that ACORN encouraged subprime mortgage loans, so that it could blame banks in the future when people lost their homes. They are incredibly socialistic and radical in the utmost sense.

                ACORN can change its name if it wants, but their socialistic schemes, aimed at taking money out of your pocket and mine, are still there. The public intimidation and corruption is still there. The fact that they are radical even to radicals is still there. ACORN, or COI, needs to be stopped no matter what their name is. They need to be denied public funds which were intended to give all Americans a voice, but instead are being used to give some multiple voices.

                Instead of giving their own money to help the poor and the hungry, some wealthy Americans choose to donate money to ACORN and the socialist party to attempt to force money from those less wealthy than they. People in Hollywood are prime suspects for this. While all people should help the poor, no one should be forced to, and we should give to the poor and not Robin Hood wannabees. ACORN should be allowed to die. It is corrupt, too radical for the United States, and almost everywhere else in the world, and does not promote helping individuals, but would rather assist in hurting them for its own political advantages. They are the epitomization of the ideals that the founding fathers were trying to avoid. If you want people that are hungry to no longer be that way, give them your money directly and stop giving it to a corrupt organization whose ultimate goal is not to assist others who are hungry, but to promote a radical idea of government that will take from all of us.