Why we should care about Haiti

Let's not forget this tragedy when the news cameras leave for the next big story. This was my site meter record for the last 30 days--people care about Haiti. The peak day was the 13th. When I posted a USGS map of the earthquake area of January 12, I got 36 hits on that entry the first hour--and most people stopped to read and click through to the source.


Page Views Dec. 16-Jan. 16

Total ...................... 456,967 (5+ years of blogging)
Average per Day ................ 438
Average per Visit .............. 1.4
This Week .................... 3,068

People care for the humanitarian reasons and terrible tragedies of families torn apart; hits came from all over the world. Also, we have a very large Haitian American population in the United States. They are restaurant owners, house painters, hospital staff, college students, academics, athletes, artists, musicians, etc. They are ambitious, driven-to-succeed people, and I'm guessing few are on welfare. We even have a community here in Columbus. There may be over 10,000 church and non-profit organizations with missions and aid societies in that tiny half-an-island nation, no bigger than Maryland. My guess (and that's all it is) is the combined resources of those groups and the Haitian immigrant communities sending money home exceed the federal government's aid--and the U.S. has poured more aid into Haiti's corrupt dictatorships and governments over the years than any other third world country. Each person who is on staff there or who has served on a mission team, like my husband, has talked about it and made other people care about Haiti. In two days, we personally got at least 10 inquiries from friends and relatives--first wanting to know if my husband was there, and second wanting to know if Ouanaminthe was hit. We had calls from Florida, Illinois, Texas, Ohio and one from a friend we hadn't heard from in 5 years.

However, we need to pay very close attention to the Haiti that existed before the earthquake and why there are so many pockets of aid. Haiti has no infrastructure--and that responsibility belongs to federal and local governments, whether elected, appointed or placed by outside forces. No road system, no public utilities for electric, water and sanitation, no army, no police force, no building codes, no zoning, no food inspection system, no banks and credit unions for the people, no public health system to vaccinate, floridate, or compensate, no middle class, no forests, no commercial farms, a public school system with an average of 100 students per class, no public library system, and no hope and change regardless of generations of black leaders. Top all that off with a powerful belief system in Voodoo which undergirds even the Christians. Think on that one as you holier than thou liberals tsk-tsk over what Pat Robertson said about a pact with the devil.

Conservatives and libertarians need to pay close attention, because right now they are the ones most critical of our government. (From 2001-2008 it was the liberals and progressives who were most critical--but nothing much has changed.) What part of this mess do you want to claim so that we can go back to lead in house paint, tainted meat, no vaccines, dirty water, rivers that catch on fire, dead zones in our lakes and rivers from chemical dumping, no programs for mentally ill and retarded children in the public schools, choking on cigarette smoke everywhere you went, cars that crumbled like paper at a 5 mph crash and no seat belts, no minorities or women in any position of authority, lack of career tracks for your daughters and sisters above secretary and school teacher, no protection for pensions, no Social Security, no unemployment benefits, no workers' compensation, no federal aid for disasters, no freedom to organize workers, no right to work without unions, no standards for your neighbor keeping up his property so yours doesn't deteriorate, etc.

And you liberals and progressives (no point addressing Marxists and Anarchists--you have a different agenda). Take a good look at what happens when you have an entire country where entreprenuership and free markets are completely discouraged through vicious tax laws that punish the poor and rich alike, but especially drive out the best and brightest. Take a look at a country where the ambitious and educated have to go elsewhere to even have a chance to support their families and enjoy a few of the benefits you take for granted. Take a look at a system built on who you know and who your family is. The ultimate of cronyism--and our Chicago crowd in DC is far worse now than the Texas cronyism during the Bush years in only 1/8 of the time. Look at a society where everyone has their hand out because that's the only way you can survive. Look at a country where nothing gets done without handsome bribes--not even unloading a container of desperately needed supplies for your medical mission--and then look at the Christmas Eve vote pushed through by Harry Reid and Barack Obama. It was impossible to pass that extremely unpopular health care bill without bribing a U.S. Senator! And we'll see the same thing with cap and trade over an equally phony AGW. Lies and Bribes. Do we want that? Look at style over substance the next time you are giddy over [using the words of Biden and Reid] a "light skinned, clean Negro" reading from a teleprompter. Have you ever browsed a photo gallery of Haiti's former leaders? My Goodness, a really smart stylish group of losers in big hats and fancy uniforms. Spoke pretty too--in four languages. Gave great parties. It means nothing. Wake up liberals, before you turn us into a third rate country with a glorious past.

Yes, we all have a lot to learn from Haiti, and yes, this tragedy will be politicized. The media who placed Obama in the White House are already trying to compare this aid to Katrina--another natural disaster made worse by ineffective government services at the city, state and federal levels. Let's wake up and get smart before it's too late.