paul@phs.UUCP (02/13/84)
[]
The following quoted material is from an editorial in the Feb. 10,
1984 Durham [NC] Morning Herald by Walter E. Williams and is related
to a recent topic of discussion in net.politics. I reproduce substantial
portions here without permission and without comment. (Well, one comment:
WEW's book, The State Against Blacks, should be required reading; its
philosophy isn't entirely unrelated to this editorial).
"Sen. John Danforth, R-Mo., following his return from Africa,
appeared on NBC's Today Show and later reported in The Washington
Post, showing pictures of people starving in Mozambique.
Duplicated in far too many places, it was a graphic depiction of
human tragedy. Mothers with empty breasts clutching dying babies.
Little children with swollen stomachs sitting quietly, awaiting
the inevitable. In such a weakened state they fall easy prey to
disease. Sen. Danforth wants Congress to send $200 million to
Mozambique...
[moderately long omission here]
"...Mozambique's food problem results from what its politicians
did to that country's agriculture sector. Prior to gaining
independence in 1975 Mozambique was a Portuguese colony.
"It was an exporter of agricultural products when President
Samora Machel took office in 1975. Machel is a dedicated Marxist
who quickly applied bankrupted socialist policy to the agricultural
sector. All farmland was declared to be the property of the
people, which really means the property of the state. Bureaucrats
descended on the farms making financing, marketing, and distribution
decisions. Even telling farmers what to plant and where to plant it.
Agricultural output fell 75 percent. Production of major cash
crops, such as cotton and sisal, fell 50 percent. Mozambique is now
an importer of food, necessitating the import of thousands of tons
of grain from South Africa and Romania. In 1981 Mozambique instituted
food rationing; and now its people are starving.
[another moderately long omission]
"If you ask Machel or some other politician about their food
problem, they'll blame the drought. But there were droughts
before and Mozambique fed its people. The current one merely
emphasized a bad system. South Africa has experienced a similar
drought, but its people aren't starving, primarily because most
land is under private ownership. Private land, as opposed to
public land, is virtually always better cared for and more
efficiently used.
"Sen. Danforth proposes we help. But our help to many poor
countries in the form of World Bank loans, International
Monetary Fund (IMF) and general foreign aid has sustained
government interference in the form of market controls,
unjustifiable public works projects, and expropriation of
private companies. Our 'help' has created dependency and
sustained oppressive regimes that might have otherwise fallen
for the good of the people.
"Isn't it time we give some truly compassionate help?"
Again, quoted material courtesy of a Walter E. Williams editorial (source
above). Also due to Williams, sort of, is a poem by James Kenneth Stephen
which Williams quotes in "The State Against Blacks:"
Of sentences that stir my bile,
Of phrases I detest,
There's one beyond all others vile:
"He did it for the best."
--James Kenneth Stephen, "The Malefactor's Plea"
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Paul Dolber @ Duke U Med Ctr (...!duke!phs!paul)charlie@cca.UUCP (Charlie Kaufman) (02/19/84)
I find it difficult to sympathize with the morally righteous of you who
believe we should be sending more food to the starving. You're in much
better position to act on your beliefs than those who believe we should
be sending less. There are many many organizations eager to take your
money and use it to supply food to the hungry. So go give until it
hurts. And if you're not committed enough to give your own money, I'll
be damned if I'll let you give mine.
Those of you who believe starving people are better off without food (I
know it sounds a little wierd, but that's the claim) have fewer options.
I know of no organizations soliciting contributions to buy up food in
third world nations and dump it in the ocean. I don't even know of any
organizations ala Planned Parenthood of Africa which promote birth
control but not food. So its a little harder to accuse you of being
hypocrites. But I'm confident that it's only because there aren't
enough of you willing to put your money where your fingers are, or the
market would have done its thing.
--Charlie Kaufman
charlie@cca
...decvax!cca!charlie