Colette mentioned on Heidi's "I'm going to let my ignorance shine" post that pouring tax dollars into other countries is a "lost cause." (Not picking on you Colette---just giving a point of reference for this post). While I do think some tax dollars should go to some international causes (i.e, ONE), I mostly think that it should be personal dollars---that we as individuals should be getting involved and making a difference locally and globally. And not just with our money, but with our lives, our passions, our gifts, our time, our resources.

So...do you think huge issues like poverty, AIDS, illiteracy etc. are a lost cause? If so, why? If not, then what are you personally doing to make a difference? (so you can give us all some ideas)

By Cocoabutter on Friday, March 31, 2006 - 11:28 pm:

I agree wholeheartedly. I think that personal contributions should be allowed to speak for the hearts of the American people, as they did in the events of the tsunami and the hurricanes.

However, unfortunately, when our reputation is observed by other countries, personal contributions are often overlooked, and the only number that matters is what the government officially contributed, even if, in the case of the tsunami, the personal and corporate contributions far outnumbered the government's contributions in dollars.

As for the question of whether or not these are lost causes, I refer to the government again. I believe that as long as we give money to corrupt governments where the unfortunate people live, it will always be a lost cause.

By Unschoolmom on Saturday, April 1, 2006 - 06:55 am:

No I don't think it's a lost cause. But I don't think it's an honest effort either.

A lot of countries, US and Canada included, will talk about the money they've pledged for disasters...And then not honour the pledges. UN AIDs envoy Stephen Lweis has talked about this a LOT, lots of money promised and only fractions of it ever appearing.

The US currently ties foreign aid money for things like AIDs to abstinence programs. Brazil turned turn US foreign aid because the Us demanded Brazil condemn prostitution while Brazil couldn't see instituting an AIDs prevention strategy without including prostitutes in the process.

Foreign aid is tremendously important. That problem isn't that it is naturally ineffective, the problem is that we don't hold our respective governments accountable for it. How many Americans know their foreign aid dollars are being directed by conservative christian agendas? How many Canadians realize that our budget commitment to foreign aid is vanishly small? Who demands the government act responsibly when dealing with foreign countries in need?

I think we'll have the right to call foreign aid ineffective only when we can say we've demanded our governments make it effective. It's such an embarrassingly small part of our coutries respective budgets that surely we can take a good look at how it's being spent before we decide it's a waste.

And if we don't, we leave foreign countries to the mercy of foreign nationals, the IMF, etc. Organizations which either reward corruption or make coutries into indentured servants.

It's not an issue of whether foreign aid should be offered. It definately should from a simple moral point of view. It's about making our government accountable for it, knowing where it goes and ensuring it does good. If there's a failure here, it's in us as citizens for ignoring the metter for so long.