Haiti

I don't quite know how to say this. We've seen the same horrible situation over and over again: disaster strikes a third world country that was already a mess, and massive death and destruction ensue. And we keep making the same inane responses: donate massive amounts of food, medicine, other supplies, and skilled labor to help out these poor people in the aftermath of this horrible event. Time will pass, the tragedy will fade from the news, and Haiti will go back to being the rat hole it's always been.

As near as I can tell no foreign aid has ever made a significant difference in the general level of civilization of a third world country. I for one am all in favor of cutting off all forms of foreign aid except education. If a country is willing to support an education effort, then perhaps we can help them with that, but that is all. No bulldozers, no medicine, no electronics.

I don't suppose we will ever be able to stop people from sending aid to disaster areas, but we should at least be trying to do something to help these places learn to take care of themselves.