Posted on 02/02/2003 5:15:50 AM PST by RJCogburn
If the $15 billion African AIDS package Mr. Bush proposed in his State of The Union speech was intended to appease the critics of his impending attack on Iraq, it won't work, says Yaron Brook, executive director of the Ayn Rand Institute.
"Mr. Bush's altruistic giveaway of our money," says Dr. Brook, "will not buy the world's approval nor stop the condemnation of the morally justifiable action that he is about to take against Iraq. As evidence, consider how Nelson Mandela, former president of South Africa, the country with the highest number of AIDS cases in Africa, has countered Mr. Bush's list of Iraqi atrocities: 'If there is a country that has committed unspeakable atrocities in the world, it is the United States of America. It is the one power with a president who has no foresight, who cannot think properly, [and] is now wanting to plunge the world into a holocaust.'
"As Ayn Rand observed, 'The givers are never blessed; the more they give, the more is demanded of them; complaints, reproaches and insults are the only response they get for practicing altruism's virtues (or for their actual virtues). Altruism cannot permit recognition of virtue . If the giver is not kept under a torrent of degrading, demeaning accusations, he might take a look around and put an end to the self-sacrificing.' If Mr. Bush needs more proof that altruistic giveaways will not buy him world approval he should compare the staggering sums of foreign aid we have given away in the last fifty years to the number of 'friends' America has today.
"If individual Americans voluntarily want to give their money to fight AIDS, they can do so privately. But when $15 billion is forcefully expropriated from taxpayers for Mr. Bush's appeasing altruistic gesture it is outrageous and immoral."
The US is the most powerful nation in the history of the world, it is our responsibility to demonstrate that greatness in more than mere power but in compassion as well.
And that holds true whether we are receiving cudos or insults, afterall, we are not supplying help simply to receive praise or political advantage, we are supplying help because it is the right thing to do.
Modern AIDS drugs, made by companies such as Abbott and Pfiser, will save lives in Africa - however imperfectly the beaurocracy over there distributes the pills.
Incorrectly put. Money put to that use will merely delay death. Not save life.
Stopping the spread of AIDs is the key.
Train your thinking on reality - not on you self-enclosed little theories.
Your simplistic observations are that somehow throwing free drugs at people to delay their death is the key to the AIDS problem in Africa. It does not cure the disease. It does not prevent the next person from becoming infected. It does nothing for the thousands upon thousands of AIDS orphans. The dosing on AIDS remission drugs is quite complex and treating multiple millions of people is beyond the ability of their medical resources, I am sure.
Reality, and it is a tough reality, is to let nature take its course and spend the limited resources available on stopping the spread of the disease or looking for a cure. It's obvious your bleeding heart can't handle that particular sort of reality.
How true. AIDS is not caused by the lack of drugs. Until the behavior is changed (whether in this country or another) this is like pouring money down a rathole.
In my estimation, the author is against this giveaway all for the wrong reason. I viewed this shameful act to be nothing other than a vote buying scheme that Bush let someone foist upon him. To me, giving away money we do not have should have been the prime interest, not vote buying or trying to look good in the eyes of the world.
Me, too.
Actually, a significant portion of the money is being dedicated to prevention. The model used in Uganda , abstenance and teaching, has lowered the spread of this disease in that country. The black man sitting beside Laura Bush at the SOTU was the health official from Uganda who has pioneered this approach.
Unlike in the US, AIDS in Africa has spread to the general population. If the civilized world doesn't stop it there it will no doubt soon be upon our door and not limited to a certain demographic.
If they were sincere, they'd give up their mansions and their designer gowns and donate their money to stopping AIDS in Africa.
That shouldn't cost $15 billion.
It's also being spent on medication and care among other things. Hell, 15B is chump change in a Trillion $ budget.
Not true. AIDS drugs delay the inevitable and do some good in managing symptoms. But there is not, I repeat NOT, a cure for AIDS at this time.
Until the health beliefs and sexual culture of Africa changes, AIDS infections will continue. The vast majority of Africans refuse to believe the facts of AIDS transmission because it runs counter to their cultural belief systems of illness and disease. Therefore, for example, African men with AIDS continue to pay the male relatives of young virgin girls large sums of money to have sex with the girls because their folk medicine tradition says this will "cure" them. Billions of dollars have already been wasted on educational efforts and mass condom distributions by international health organizations that have failed to curb the statistical nightmare of AIDS in Africa.
It's a depressing situation and one with no immediate signs of relief. Because I understand that throwing money at AIDS drugs, which the people will probably not be compliant in taking anyway, does not mean that I "don't care." It's the liberal way to feel good about intent rather than results. Until a critical mass of culturally influential Africans - I don't mean political or social leaders, I mean local people who are respected within individual neighborhoods and such - take steps to model the positive behavioral changes that will result in a decrease in AIDS transmission, the AIDS epidemic will continue. The people themselves must lead others to make these massive changes in their prevailing culture and day-to-day lives. Nothing else is going to work.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.