Have you ever donated money to the effort to boost research on household refrigerators? How about donating to the cause of developing new products in the frozen food category? ...or for the building trades, for better wheelbarrows, roller coasters or bicycles?
If you're saying "That would be silly!", I ask you if you'd also say it's silly to donate to the Heart Association, to Cancer research, for epilepsy, diabetes, lung or breast cancer, AIDs, leukemia, muscular distrophy, etc., etc.?
What's the difference between these two groups of "causes"?
Why don't we give to the first, but we consider, and many of us actually do, donate to the latter, sometimes rather generously?
I submit it's because the former is not perceived to need extra money, while every one of the causes in the latter group is believed in need, often sorely so. Also, because many of us are touched in our personal lives by real cases, many very sad and tragic indeed. We perceive that causes like those in the second group don't get enough $$ otherwise, so more voluntary giving is needed, which we widely applaud.
But wait, if you think that USA health care should be (and should remain) a private enterprise matter, not a publicly funded endeavor, what gives with all these medical "causes" knocking on my door all the time asking for money??
Why don't they have enough through our private enterprise health care system -- we don't see the refrigerator makers asking us for donations, do we?
Try to explain this glaring inconsistency to me, please!
