Topic: Haiti
Aid for the Haiti Disaster Thought on government and foreign aid.by Jake Towne, the Champion of the Constitution
(libertarian)
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Words are not sufficient for the immense and unimaginable loss of perhaps 100,000 lives during the recent earthquake in Haiti. The immediate question is what can be done to help. I wrote recently in "Guns or Health Care?" that it wasClara Barton and a group of fellow Americans who founded the Red Cross and Red Crescent, and not the federal government. The Red Cross has already begun operations by contributing $1 million from their International Response Fund and sending stocks of tarps, mosquito nets, and cooking sets to Haiti. I myself made a donation today to the International Response Fund, which can be done here or from the home page, redcross.org. There are other charities working as well.
The federal government has also pledged assistance with our military. While I certainly hope this assistance helps saves lives, Americans should not forget the Hurricane Katrina fiasco so quickly. Our own country was wracked by a serious disaster, though smaller than Haiti's, and the federal response of FEMA was famously ineffective. Now, I will not question the government's benevolent intentions to help, but we must recognize that they are incapable of even balancing their own budget, and was within 72 hours of a technical default last month. They have failed for 8+ years, spending billions and billions, to locate the leader of the al-Qaeda terrorist group.
As George Washington once said, "Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force." The function of the government is to provide the rule of lawand protect liberty, not to redistribute wealth, grant special privileges, or interfere with the lives of individuals and their actions. Government has nothing - it must first tax or plunder resources by force from citizens before redistributing to Haitians or even fellow Americans.
What is our past history with Haiti? We have sent in the Marines many times before, even in recent years, and we invaded and occupied the country from 1915-1930. Pennsylvania native, two-time winner of the Medal of Honor, and the highest decorated Marine in history, Smedley Butler, eventually decided to write his powerful essay "War is a Racket" in large part due to his experiences in the occupation of Haiti.
What has our current government done in terms of aid? In HR 3081, passed by the House and voted FOR by my competitor, the incumbent Congressman Dent, in Section 7045 grants Haiti $300 million dollars in military and economic aid and unspecified amounts for military training. In fact, in 2007 alone the federal government gave $208 million in economic aid and $2.4 million in military aid to Haiti. Since 1946, American taxpayers have sent$4.5 billionestimated in constant 2007 dollars to Haiti. We have done much the same for other countries across the world. [Source: Visit here and run a 'Country Report' in 'Constant Dollars'. Select Haiti under 'Standard Country Report.']
Has this strategy of giving away tax dollars even worked? From the appearance of Haiti even before the earthquake and all of the other Latin American and African countries where foreign aid has been spent, I do not see any beneficial results from all this aid. Where is the accountability?
In summary, point #1 - the American government should not award any foreign aid whatsoever and the current Congress and individuals should realize that not only is accountability missing, but the money simply is not theirs to give, as Colonel Davy Crockett noted so long ago. Instead of voting to plunder the taxpayer, each and every Congressman, Senator, and President should reach into their own millionaire pockets and contribute. There is such a thing as leading by example and after my election I have pledged to only accept the median household income and donate the remainder to local non-profit hospitals.I do not see any logic in offering foreign aid when our nation has such a large foreign debt already. Indeed, I would certainly not approve ANY grants of foreign aid while the unemployment rates in the Lehigh Valley are at 23-year highs with the official numbers, and at Great Depression rates if the more realistic but unofficial statistics are used.
Point #2 - do we as a people, in our local communities have rapid response and insurance plans to survive disasters? What about the next Katrina? What about when California is hit by a massive earthquake sometime in the decades to come? In our local communities and media (and yes, local governments!) we should use events like Haiti or the Asian tsunami to remind us of these important discussions. However, we must recognize that federal government is NOT a cure-all and is inherently inefficient- we should rely instead on charitable non-governmental organizations to plan out responses both locally and internationally. In other words, we should rely on ourselves. I've cast my own vote with the Red Cross instead of expecting Congress or the President to act. In the years to come, hopefully humanity can improve its track record.
January 14, 2010
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