County Benefits in Keeping Safety Net From Unraveling : Government Has a Role in Helping the Less Fortunate

The role of government in our society is a subject of continual debate. The big, obvious functions are easy: national security at the federal level; making cities safe at the local level. The difficulty comes in deciding how to help those who need it: What social programs are needed? Who pays? Who benefits?

Americans have rightly decided that government does have a role in helping those down on their luck. There must be a “safety net” for people. Social Security and Medicaid are two examples.

At the local level, Orange County has scores of programs to help residents. For example, some programs assist battered women. Nearly all perform functions that government would have to perform if the private, nonprofit groups did not exist. They rely heavily on volunteers and private funds, as well as taxpayers’ assistance, to keep operating.

That is worth remembering when people rail against giving taxpayers’ money to “special interests.” In many cases, the interests are those of the community at large.

This month, Orange County Supervisor Jim Silva proposed a freeze on Community Social Program Grants, at least through June 30. Silva said county government should give priority to “basic programs.” He said the supervisors were doling out funds to “special interests,” indulging in “pork barrel politics.”

“Pork barrel politics” is a term more often heard in Washington and applied to wasteful billion-dollar projects in the home districts of powerful legislators. It is not a term usually heard in relation to $1,000 given to a temporary shelter for homeless women or $10,000 for a home for runaway, neglected or abused teenagers.

But those are the types of programs that benefit from the county’s Community Social Program Grants. In the past 10 months, they have totaled more than $40,000, which is a minuscule amount in a county budget of over $3 billion.

The groups receiving the money say it helps give them legitimacy in the eyes of the community. All the recipients have to raise funds elsewhere, from foundations, corporations and private citizens. For the county, the money is a pittance; for an organization, it can be a lifesaver.

Fortunately, Silva’s proposal went nowhere with the other four supervisors, all of whom recognize that the “seed money” is necessary. Silva has no quarrel with the work the groups do; he said he supports them personally. But, “It’s the principle of the matter.”

The principle should be that government must recognize its role in helping the less fortunate, even at a time when the public rightly is demanding more efficient services and less cumbersome bureaucracy. These nonprofit groups can represent an ideal public-private partnership. It is a recognition that government cannot just vanish and leave it to someone else to see to it that problems get solved. When that happens, the problems do not get solved.

Orange County has a mixed record when it comes to assisting those in need. The campaign to raise money for the Orangewood Children’s Home in Orange was a splendid example of what happens when dedicated public servants tap into the energy and wealth of this community and when members of the community care about a cause. Millions of dollars were raised, all in private funds, and the home was built.

But raising funds for other causes has been more difficult. Orange County is known for its political conservatism, which in its best moments insists on government streamlining and efficiency. But a philosophy of effective and responsive government still logically must recognize that there are places where it would be penny-wise and pound-foolish to eliminate all efforts by local government to help shore up the society. In the long run, taxpayers save money by doing what they should, caring for their neighbors.