Call us to hear the voices that challenge
"This is the way that Americans respond. They respond through their churches and through their communities," [Condoleeza] Rice, whom President Bush has nominated to succeed Colin L. Powell as secretary of state, said in a brief interview. "What the government does is important, but what each individual American does is even more important."
(from here)
I am not denigrating charity donations in the slightest. Anyone who knows me knows that I feel guilty when I don't have enough to give to charity, and I relish the opportunities I have to contribute something of myself to a cause or relief.
However, when my secretary of state advocates the importance of charity donations OVER federal aid, I'm not sure what to do. I can't say I'm surprised the Bush administration wants to politicize a terrible tragedy. The United States has been criticized publically for not leading the world in this disaster relief. Our public face is not defined by each one of us individually giving to charity (the Amazon one click site had garnered over $12 Billion for the red cross) but instead our government's initial offering of $15 million (And today's claim that even bringing it up to $350m is the ceiling). Should our foreign policy be determined by groups of citizens writing letters to various foreign embassies? Why should our disaster relief? What on earth has this country come to? And that is the public statement of our future secretary of state. And I know that less than 1/2 of 1 percent of our federal dollars go to foreign aid.
I guess it really is true - the richer you are, the less you give :).
(if you want to do something on your own, contribute to the IRC here or Mercy Corps or whatever other group you'd like)
I have been considering bible quotes to put down here. However, I don't want my continuing use of them to be misinterpreted, so I'll skip it for now. My use of them will be to increase my knowledge while deciding for myself if organized religion is a good idea for me.
2 Comments:
Wow, I couldn't disagree more. I think that's the way it should work, let me decide how to help people with my money. If this doesn't improve our "public face" well then so be it. Any move by the government is claimed as an obvious ploy by the rest of the world to buy allies anyways. As for the richer you are, the less you give, I suppose this may be true but according to this list http://blog.simmins.org/td.pdf American people and businesses have given over 400 million so far, not too shabby.
Well, JimBob, that is where you and I disagree. Whereas I believe that each individual can give as they'd like (and is) I believe that our government has a responsibility to give as well. I think the government reacting to this crisis by underfunding the amount of aid they'd give and then asking for that to be made up by a public campaign for donations is akin to asking for our foreign policy to be determined by individuals writing letters. Or our public education staffed by private volunteer tutors and mentors. Or Social Security replaced by volunteer donations for the elderly - perhaps we can each take an elderly companion into our homes! Or how about Medicaid and CHIP being replaced by private volunteer doctors and first-aid workers?
I am also not denigrating private giving :). I'm not saying that the several hundred million dollars from private sources isn't a good thing. I am just saying that we only spend 1/2 of 1 percent on foreign aid anyway - why cant we give more? :)
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