Apparently many people here would agree.
The festival is entitled "A Very Minnesota Celebration" and features exhibits and a marketplace. It is centered around Minnesota and U.S. history.
The original admission cost for adults was $15. Now, the Star Tribune is reporting that admission is "free" but suggests a donation with proceeds going to Hurricane victims. Why they didn't think of that in the first place? However, it is celebrating America, so following suit with the way Americans would rather throw money at something than volunteer their time seems appropriate. I did find it interesting that the political buttons seller wasn't doing so hot (seeing as how you can go a few more miles and probably find them everywhere at the RNC) and the person selling books about the economy wasn't doing well (because when the economy isn't great, why not buy books about it!).
Furthermore, after twelve days of the Minnesota State Fair (where attendance was excellent), who wants more concessions? And after so much coverage of the RNC, protesters and presidential nominees, I'm not sure I know of anyone who wants to celebrate America too much more.
I must say this is maybe not the best timing for an event like that. It looks like an event on a rainy day with nothing better to do.
(photo from civicfest.org)
3 comments:
"However, it is celebrating America, so following suit with the way Americans would rather throw money at something than volunteer their time seems appropriate."
This statement seems very resentful of cash instead of time donations. I must ask, why is the donation of money less commendable than time?
Many times money goes much further than donations of time. If I make $100 an hour, it wouldn't make sense to take off work in order to volunteer when I could donate some of my wages instead. If I have a family to take care of or an inflexible job, if I'm disabled, old, young, or far away from the cause it would be economically irrational to donate time instead of money.
I know that I can't make it down to New Orleans in the next few weeks. Can you?
Money is required to hire the equipment, pay for the fuel, food, ice, insulin, and to cover the overhead costs. Without cash donations, time donations would be nearly worthless.
Whether we "throw our money at" or volunteer our time for various causes, America is the most charitable nation in the world. That is certainly something to celebrate.
It's the classic Time vs Money argument. It's why places that plan your travel, pick up your groceries, babysit your kids, clean and fold your laundry, sell your goods on eBay, cook and serve your food, plan retirement, invest in stocks and other businesses in the service industry thrive. Would you rather rake and mow your lawn yourself, or pay the kid down the street to do it for you? Would you rather buy your green beens and corn at the grocery store or plant them yourself? These are things that arguably anyone could do with enough time to do it in.
I, like some, know how to change my own oil and vacuum my car, but it takes less time and sometimes less cash to have the mechanics at Wal-Mart do it while I buy groceries at the same time. If I'm craving a candy bar, it's quicker to purchase it for at least 40 more cents at the gas station after I've filled up and need to go in anyway than waste my time running to a grocery for no other reason.
With that said, for many Americans it's easier to make a monetary donation than a time donation. Personally, I would have loved to volunteer my time in New York after 9/11, help rebuild homes in New Orleans, help out out those whose homes were destroyed during wildfires in California - but in those cases, it just wasn't feasible with school and work.
Would my money really have helped people? Sure. Those people needed money to buy the goods to rebuild/clean up the city. But they also needed the many volunteers that were able to make it down there, arguably much more. Let's suppose insurance or the government gave people the money they needed to rebuild - with no skills or manpower, how would they be able to do so?
It seemed to me in the case of Katrina that the government (local and national) made some bad calls, and threw money at causes to make it better. Later, we find out that money didn't make it to some who needed it most, and was given to some who didn't need it at all.
Giving money is commendable. It takes work to make money. However, money will most likely make it there - it's manpower to use that money that make not.
"Let's suppose insurance or the government gave people the money they needed to rebuild - with no skills or manpower, how would they be able to do so?"
By hiring such skills and services? =)
The way that I figure it, the only entity that "throws money at" things is the government, it has no plan and it has no direction, resources are misallocated and wasted at every turn. All government does is get in the way of real aid.
The federal government "assistance" following Hurricane Katrina is perhaps the most blatant US fuck up of our lifetimes. DHS and FEMA wasted millions of taxpayer dollars by buying temporary housing that couldn't be used, by giving away relief checks to people who didn't exist, and by not allowing volunteer efforts to take place.
Thousands of volunteers from the Red Cross and Salvation Army were restricted from entering the city by DHS. Wal-Mart sent hundreds of semis full of water and supplies and it wasn't able to reach those who were stranded for days. The supplies and the labor were there, FEMA wouldn't allow them in! I still get outraged when I think about this.
My theory is this: the reason the American people are so generous with their time and their money is because we still believe in each other and do not believe that the government is the solution to our problems. If and when the American people start to believe that the government should and can take care of such problems, volunteerism will decline. (They don't need my help, that is what I pay taxes for, that is what FEMA is for...) As far as I am concerned, the best thing that we can do to assist people in need is donate both our time and our money, and to try our damnedest to keep the government out of the way.
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