February 16, 2004
Oats-based initiative
According to the side of the Cheerios box, if we send in $5, First Book will “give children from low-income familes the opportunity to own their first new books.”
As school districts routinely ask parents to chip in to pay for the basic supplies the school needs, it’s good to know that educating our children – a basic government service – is being outsourced to General Mills.
Look, I’m glad Cheerios is asking us to support a charity, and First Book seems to be a worthy group. I’m just not enough of a libertarian to prefer largesse to taxes when it comes to the government’s basic obligations.