John Carlisle writing at the American Spectator website points out how we were all forced to help AARP take a position against much needed Social Security reform.
"The defeat of private accounts is just the latest example of AARP's longtime commitment to liberal activism. Of course, as a private nonprofit organization it has the right to take any stand it chooses on a public policy issue. However, the fact that AARP pursues its agenda using federal dollars stirs considerable anger among many taxpayers, and not just those who oppose its politics.
The AARP 2004 annual report shows that the organization received $83 million from the federal government through a variety of grants. Thus, when AARP spent at least $10 million torpedoing Social Security reform, more than 10 percent of its $800 million budget came from the U.S. taxpayer.
Charlie Jarvis, Chairman and CEO of USA Next, estimates that since 1989, 'AARP appears to have taken over a billion dollars in taxpayer money.'"
