Dana Perino Ponders the Paying For Recurring Natural Disasters Like Haiti
I know, a lot of you people are fed up with the USA always having to pony up the cash to help victims of natural disasters like the one in Haiti. Dana Perino, former White House press secretary, is one of those people. Read this:
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2010/01/14/dana-perino-haiti-earthquake-help/
“The USA always comes to the aid of people suffering in natural disasters…”
“Is there a way to stop the cycle of needing to send so much aid to Haiti?.. It also needs the development of its leaders, a stronger civil society, and more faith-based organizations to help build it into a better country….”
Yeah Dana, there is a way, we can stop having natural disasters. Passing the obligation to respond onto faith-based organizations would be irresponsible. Our government has the equipment (cargo airplanes, military personnel, engineers, etc.) that these organizations can’t supply. When a disaster of this magnitude strikes in our own backyard you can’t stand by and say “don’t worry, the Salvation Army will take care of it.” You tried that approach with Hurricane Katrina and a natural disaster was made worse by a delayed government response.
“Perhaps the best idea would be to have a public-private partnership with America’s vibrant Haitian-American community and willing businesses that will commit to dedicating itself to helping Haiti become a country that would not need to rely on others as much as it has in the last several decades.”
Businesses are not charitable entities. Left to them they would find some way to profit from the disaster like selling fresh water to thirsting dying victims are exorbitant prices.
Here we go again with the smaller simpler government talk so endearing to republicans. Government spending is a touchy issue these days given that the Bush tax cuts for the rich created massive budget deficits that ran for years and put our debt burden at a life threatening critical level. Had we acted responsibly and kept to a balanced budget, we wouldn’t have to have this conversation.
It may be our misfortune to be one of the wealthiest countries on earth, and it may be unfortunate that with that comes a moral obligation to do the right thing, but it’s just something we’re going to have to learn to live with.
