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Haiti and the case for good government
Carter Bundy
The tragedy of the Haitian earthquake has generated a large outpouring of support from New Mexicans. If you’ve been thinking about doing something but haven’t had the chance yet, here’s another link to the Red Cross: redcross.org.
You can also simply text “Haiti” to 90999 and your phone company will donate $10 to the Red Cross and add it to your next bill (it’s not a scam — the Red Cross Web site asks people to do this). If you can afford more, of course, simply go to the site itself.
Beyond immediate monetary contributions, there are long-term changes that need to be made in Haiti, most of which involve a good, proactive government.
This is no time for politicking and proselytizing, and shame on Rush Limbaugh and Pat Robertson for their opportunistic, bizarre use of the catastrophe to bash Democrats and Catholics, respectively.
While politicking over Haiti is wrong, there’s nothing wrong with looking at why a 7.0 quake in Haiti kills 100,000 or more Haitians while a similar temblor in similarly dense Los Angeles kills only a handful of Americans.
Haiti: What government?
The main answer? Government regulation, government programs, government infrastructure and government employees.
In America, we have long valued the role of creating safety standards and enforcing them. Critics call these rules “anti-business” and they call the good people who enforce them “bureaucrats.”
Nonsense.
The efforts California has made in the last few decades to retrofit buildings have met with resistance and derision from right-wing ideologues and rich corporations who claim that that building codes are stifling.
In reality, that kind of pro-active government regulation is exactly what keeps millions of Angelinos safe every year, because you can be sure the developers and builders weren’t going to quake-proof buildings on their own.
It’s not just our legislators, planners and code enforcement officers who deserve our thanks. In America, we value other public services like 911, police, fire, National Guard and emergency medical care.
Those are all government programs staffed by government employees, and the lack of good public safety, law enforcement and public medical facilities in Haiti are another reason why a horrible tragedy turned catastrophic.
There’s more. Our public agencies and government employees guarantee clean water and efficient, safe waste disposal (solid waste and wastewater alike). The lack of these good government programs in Haiti is contributing to additional disease and death even after the earth has stopped moving.
What government does
Over the course of New Mexico’s upcoming 30-day legislative session , you’ll hear generic anti-government rants from corporations, ideologues and tea partiers, but you’ll almost never hear them say what programs need to be cut.
That’s because when you get into the specifics of what government does, people really like what they get for the money. Especially if there’s accountability and auditing, which there absolutely should be. Here’s where well over 90 percent of our state and local money goes:
• Creation and maintenance of infrastructure like roads, airports and power.
• Law enforcement, including police.
• Other public safety, like fire, emergency medical services and 911.
• The judicial system, including prosecutors, public defenders and judges.
• Corrections (which, with all due respect to the other public servants on this list, is the toughest job in America in my opinion).
• Commonsense regulation and enforcement that ensures safe food, strong buildings and safe roads.
• Clean water in every house in New Mexico.
• Sanitary wastewater and solid waste disposal.
• National Guard.
• Parks, recreation centers and open space.
• Enforcement of laws keeping our air, water and land clean.
• Health care for poor children and the elderly, neither of whom are in a position to pay the full actuarial value of their care by themselves.
• Preventing or stopping child abuse.
• Meager, temporary help to keep the poor or unemployed from becoming homeless or starving to death.
• K-12 education, community colleges, vocational training and universities.
America and New Mexico are much better off because of the things our taxes fund. We should be wary of people who make blanket statements bashing government or the revenue it requires.
God knows that both before and after the earthquake, Haiti would love to have had a generally good government like ours, and they wouldn’t complain about the necessary resources to make it happen.
Bundy is the political and legislative director for AFSCME in New Mexico. The opinions in his column are personal and do not necessarily reflect any official AFSCME position. You can learn more about him by clicking here. Contact him at carterbundy@yahoo.com.
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The best way to describe such places in regards to money is “black hole”. While pouring money in can make one feel like they have done a good thing it doesn’t effect change needed to create a functioning society.
Having visited Haiti and numerous other poor, third world countries around the world, I have to say that having a “good government” in such places is beyond the scope of anything America can do. Pouring money into corrupt, overpopulated and poor countries with no wealth creation abilities will not solve the problems, there is not enough money in the world. The people have to do this themselves, it starts with them and education. Likewise, in NM, pouring money into govertnment will not make it “good”. The continued bloating of government by increasing bureaucrats, technocrats, office personnel, and numerous unnecessary and overlapping agencies and departments is the problem to be solved. Hopefully that will be solved by clear heads, economic sense, and unbiased leaders who can see the waste. If we have leaders with more intelligence than special interests to reward, this can happen, I am not holding my breath however.
here is what i see. government put their foot in the door to most of these programs and now run them with almost complete ineffeciency. you think that without government we would not have clean water, or sanitation, or even prisons? This is still America. one of the many definitions of an entrepreneur is finding a need and filling it. an entrepreneur sees where there is a lack of something and strives to fill it. and guess what? businesses try to earn a profit! they have to please stockholders and employees! who is the government responsible to? if you tell me the people you are sorely mistaken. they have not answered to us for a long time. if they did you would not hear Obama talking about his stimulus plan that there might be a few “unwise projects” but they are just a few out of the I don’t even know how many. well guess what those “unwise projects” were still funded with my hard earned money. that is taking money from my pocket, where i could have used it to truly stimulate the economy and most likely putting it into the pocket of a politician, lobbyist, or another special interest group. if the government were a business it would have failed a long time ago! think on this question, if the government was run more like a business, i.e. for profit (rather than spending), and actually acountable (the fact you even included that in your writing is laughable) to its shareholders what would it look like? Would we have a deficit growing the way it is? Would our children be burdened with that deficit without even choosing to be a part of it? government is not the savior of all, it is a necessary part of life yes, but in a limited manner. americans and entreprenuers are what makes this a great country in spite of the government.
Carter, Totally agree with you. As for Joseph Cummins, well sir, have you participated in trying to get the education system or anything else repaired? Glad you feel that private enterprise is the solution. However, I disagree. As a nurse employed here locally for over 20 years, I can tell you that private enterprise is ruining our not so local health care systems. What about the rising costs of both health insurance and access to health care? What about the low pay of our police people on the streets? Yes, there is plenty of waste but it is in high payments and perks to the fat cats at the top. As for the welfare state, remember, there for the grace of God or just dumb luck go you and I.
Fortunately, at least for awhile longer we are all entitled to our personal beliefs.
What is a good govt? I don’t know, however, I can reflect upon what govt has done throughout history and easily see what it has consistently failed to accomplished despite the quad-zillions spent to fund the elitists claiming more resources are required to make the people’s lives better.
Examine each of the points listed and you will discover that private enterprise is the better alternative. Examples, 1) the public drinking and waste water infrastructure, which has deteriorated to the point of complete collapse, 2) public education has become a monumental catastrophe, 3) unbelievable amounts of revenues taken from the have’s for the have-not’s have produced the largest welfare state known to man.
According to govt believer’s — more debt will solve all of our problems.
Perhaps it is time to restructure the thinking process?