I may have to apologize in advance for the following. I suspect a few of my readers will be surprised with this post but, in my opinion, this country is “past due” asking the following questions with regard to our fiscal largesse.
I’ll address these questions here and now. Likely you’ll not read of them anywhere else. And you’ll probably not care for my answers.
What begged my mental tickler file on this? Easy: Haiti.
My first question:
1. Does the US Know How To Offer Aid?
A: I submit it does not. I submit it would rather just have recipients receive the checks or shipments and then satisfy our emotional fantasies. They should be gracious and then shut up.
2. Does the US Expect That “Well Intentioned Aid” Will Reach Its Targets?
A: Of course. The US, as insulated as it is, has little if any true idea of the current detailed political heavings involved in the individual square meter(s) where aid may be dropped or proffered.
3. A Little History?
A: Developed countries have spent, historically, the equivalent of trillions of dollars on developing nations.
4: AND WHAT DO WE HAVE TO SHOW FOR IT?
A: Very little if anything.
5. What About China? They’ve Received Almost NO Aid From Western Countries!
A: Yet, despite this, China has seen massive improvement and is now an industrial, business and manufacturing powerhouse.
6. So: What Won’t We Address?
A: Culture. Plain and simple.
7. What Are You Intimating, BZ?
A: I’m saying, not intimating this: some cultures are Winners, and some cultures are Losers.
8. The Bottom Line?
A: Some cultures are more progress-resistant than others. Some cultures will never come around. Some cultures — and some nation-states — have little if any work ethic, progress viewpoint, history of success, embracement of values, morals, discrimination, judgment.
9. Then Some Cultures Don’t Deserve Help and Must Rise Or Fall On Their Own?
A: In my opinion, yes. And that would include Haiti.
10. Doesn’t That Relegate Some Nations To Corruption And Despair?
A: In another word, yes. One person, one nation, one philosophy, cannot be all things to all people. Before there can be change, there must be a fundamental desire to change. Alcoholics, junkies and equines all know a common axiom: “You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink.”
Change will come to only those who wish it. And deserve it.
11. In The Meantime: I’m Keeping My Dollars At Home.
A: Judgmental? Yes. Pragmatic? Always. You want to fly to Haiti and personally help? Wonderful. You want to donate your own cash to various organizations? Be my guest. Just keep my federal tax dollars out of it. I am simply tired of spending billions with no resultant progress.
12. How Can You Be This Indifferent And Even Hateful?
A: We refuse to see the light. We refuse to see that, with some cultures, they can’t change. What accounts for the difference between Haiti and the DR? I’m just tired. I’m done. Our US cash is finite. Taxpayers’ pockets, my pockets, have bottoms. My patience has an end. I pay for the world. And the world still doesn’t understand, nor do Americans, that if the United States crashes then the rest of the entire planet is in jeopardy. There is NO OTHER NATION to come to the assistance at any given point on the rest of the globe. And listen up, America: THERE IS NO OTHER NATION THAT WILL COME TO OUR AID in our time of peril.
There are big things in store for the US, nasty things waiting in the wings. They’re not pretty, they won’t be pleasant, and they’ll affect the entire world. In comparison, I’m not much worried about Haiti.
BZ
