That is what the socialist group ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) does, according the the Manhattan Institute’s Steve Malanga. You can read his excellent WSJ article here.

His summation: “Groups like Acorn thrive off a 1960s philosophy which holds that the worse things are, the better. The more Acorn’s policies thwart the free market, stymie efforts to make government more efficient and saddle the poor with bad stores and lousy services, the more Acorn can lobby for government aid to cure the ills of our society — all funneled through Acorn-run programs, of course.”

Of course, this isn’t really anything new. Why do politicians like Ted Kennedy want to shove socialized medicine down our throats? Because they believe that medical care would be so much better if done by government bureaucracy? I doubt it. They want it because it makes people more dependent on the state and gives the pols more power. Hurt the poor to help yourself — pretty despicable.