Posted by
John Caile on Friday, January 15, 2010 1:05:08 PM
Talk about jumping on the bandwagon. The dust from the Haiti earthquake had barely settled before President Obama was pushing and shoving his way to get in front of the TV cameras - to let us all know how concerned HE is, how much HE is doing to alleviate the suffering of the Haitian victims.
Meanwhile, the real work of ministering to the injured and homeless was being done by the same people who always step up when needed - the American military, and the legions of unpaid volunteers from private charities, most of whom are religious organizations, predominantly Christian, by the way - a fact that is no small annoyance to the left-wing media pundits.
Now, none of us who have followed such disasters in the past are surprised at the incredibly generous spirit of the American people. Throughout history, and especially in modern times, regular American citizens have proven to donate money, time, and food at a rate many times that of any other nation on earth, even the most prosperous European countries.
Yet liberals persist in disparaging their own country on an almost regular basis. They call America "selfish" - they see America's prosperity itself as "proof" of our "greedy" and "excessive" use of the world's resources. But that's because most liberals (who in every survey are proven to give far less than their conservative counterparts) see government, not the individual, as the source of all "charity" - in spite of the fact that nothing done by government is ever charity at all. Nonetheless, we have Obama and his P/R staff seeing this tragedy as the perfect opportunity to reinforce the idea that government is the primary source of assistance in a time of crisis.
Not to mention taking the opportunity to perpetuate the persistent myth that the Bush Administration was somehow "slow" to respond to the victims of hurricane Katrina. Never mind that the real fault for that debacle lay at the feet of the DEMOCRAT Mayor of New Orleans, and the DEMOCRAT Governor of Louisiana, both of whom not only horribly bungled their own responsibilities, they actually rebuffed the initial offers of help from the Bush Administration. At least the citizens of Louisiana recognized the truth - they drove their Democrat Governor out and elected a Republican, Bobby Jindhal, in a landslide.
Then of course, there are the left-wing "climate change" crazies, already attempting to link the earthquake to "global warming" - apparently unaware that quakes are caused by friction between subterranean tectonic plates and have nothing to do with climate at all. But then, when did actual science deter the climate-change nuts?
Make no mistake, it is not just liberals who make hay out of tragedy. The ever more goofy Reverend Pat Robertson immediately blamed the earthquake on the Haitian people - calling it punishment from God for their "compact with the Devil" - one wonders what this supposed "man of God" is thinking. We pray that henceforth he will just keep his outlandish musings to himself.
And finally, now that violence and looting has exploded in this Third World hell-hole, don't be surprised if somehow Obama attempts to blame the ensuing chaos in Haiti on, you guessed it - poverty. And, like the socialist he is, Obama will naturally see the "solution" as simply sending yet another $100 million of American taxpayer money, if not more.
But the fact is, while Louisiana is nowhere near as poor as Haiti - both have had a history of being run by corrupt political organizations. Both have leaders who live in relative luxury while many of their people live in poverty. And more to the point, both have been recipients of huge sums of welfare payments courtesy of American taxpayers.
We all feel for the horror that the Haitian people are enduring. And as Americans, we will, as we always do, offer our time, money, food, and clothing to lend a helping hand. But we should also use this tragedy, not as a political opportunity, but as a teachable moment - a chance to look with fresh eyes at which policies promote a healthy, prosperous society, and which approaches virtually guarantee the kind of poverty and despair we see in Haiti today.