Some thoughts on Religious Freedom and Government Responsibility

I was doing some research on religious freedom today and I discovered the U.S. Department of State website on religious freedom. As a teenage girl my first instinct after reading a sentence or two into the first paragraph was to give up and look for something that was more interesting and involved less words. Maybe something that wasn't written in "government language". But in my quest for research and "understanding" (whatever that entails; even I don't really know) I decided to force myself through the entire page like a child swallowing cherry cough syrup. Honestly, it was probably worse than actually swallowing cough syrup, and much more dull. At least swallowing the syrup gives you tiny rush of adrenaline. The article? Nothing. So I finished the entire thing and felt a little like I had wasted fifteen minutes trying to read and re-read each sentence until I could moderately understand it. What I had intended to post on this blog was interesting articles that were thought provoking and inspiring, and this didn't provoke much thought or inspiration. But after I reconsidered what I had read I felt like all I needed was to simplify what the page was actually talking about. It outlined the purpose and mission of an organization called the Office of International Religious Freedom. As stated on their page their mission is,"...promoting religious freedom as a core objective of U.S. foreign policy." Now being someone who doesn't enjoy skimming over a ton of unnecessary information to find the important stuff (I know I'm screwed in college right?) I just wanted to know what they actually do to further their cause. From what I know about government organizations who claim to specialize in human rights and social issues, not a whole lot of people end up actually being helped by them. In fact, it is mostly grassroots organizations that end up aiding the people of countries in need of freedom from religious persecution and other human rights issues that provide the most concrete assistance and relief (more to come on that topic in another post about the Half the Sky Movement). Supposedly, the Office of International Religious U.S. foreign policy aims to further it's mission by...

• Releasing The Annual Report on International Religious Freedom : They release a report telling the executive branch the status of religious freedom in 195 countries.
• Designation of  "Countries of Particular Concern": They make a list of all the countries that aren't in compliance with the Religious Freedom Act of 1998.
• They meet with foreign officials as well as religious and human rights groups in the United States to address problems of religious freedom.
• They talk to congress about religious rights issues.
• They support programs they are trying to resolve issues between religious disagreements in countries
• They sponsor American Religious Communities

So that was basically a summary of what I took from their description of what exactly they do. Now to my dismay I didn't really find anything incriminating like I had hoped to. I really wanted to find some dirt that I could rave to you all about how preposterous it is that an organization funded by the taxpayer's money isn't performing a purpose and bla bla bla bla... But really it seems to me they are doing most everything they should be doing. What I really wanted to point out is that I felt like with such a big title, couldn't this organization be doing more? They have the government money right? So I guess my question is bigger; why can't government human rights organizations with all the funds be as effective as a grassroots organization that has little to no funding at all? Maybe it's just me, but I feel like we are moving into an age with less secrets. What I mean by that is that our government is becoming more accountable for what it does and does not do. I know for a fact that there are millions of people in the U.S. alone concerned not just with religious freedom, but other human rights issues as well. So shouldn't there be some responsibility on the government's part to make that mission not just to promote religious freedom as a core objective of U.S. foreign policy, but to make changes and send aide to those who need help fighting religious persecution? You would think there would be hundreds of young college graduates today who would kill to get a job doing just that; going out and really trying to help the people in need. Shouldn't that be in one of those bullet points? Because it seems to me that with such an community of activism and a passion for human rights today, I cannot be the only one that is dissatesfied with simply "trying to make this issue and objective of our foreign policy". We want to see religious freedom in the policy, and the policy making change in peoples lives.  
Thoughts? Comments? Hope I didn't bore you too much.
Maybe some food for thought, maybe keep scrolling until you find something less scatterbrained.  Whateverthecase...I hope my first attempt at a blog post doesn't disappoint. I mean I'm only a kid, so be nice. Cheers.