What Will Help Those in Poverty?

There is much ado about everything these days as President Trump dropped his latest verbal bomb, through lips that, as yet, have neither lock nor key. Last time I talked to him about this, ah, wait… I have not talked to him, and have not had the opportunity to tell him anything, not that he would listen to me anyway. It is apparent he does not listen to his advisors, so why would he listen to me?

So, he is in hot water, again, again, and his opponents, dripping with moral hypocritical superiority are having a field day. The media is aglow with activity, charges, counter charges, denunciations, calls for impeachment and so forth. Then there are others defending him for labeling certain nations as, well, I do have a lock on my mouth, so I will not say it. They are posting pictures of conditions in those nations to illustrate that they have serious problems.

But, I ask, how does any of this help those nations? Their people are coming here to escape those conditions and unfortunately, for them and for us, they bring the culture they are fleeing with them. And that is the age-old problem. President Theodor Roosevelt faced it shortly before his death as he said:

“In the first place we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here does in good faith become an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed or birthplace or origin. But this is predicated upon the man’s becoming in very fact an American and nothing but an American.”

Again, we face the influx of those who flee the conditions of their country, and it is understandable that they would want to do so. But we miss the point if we but label them, castigate them, or offend their country. Nothing changes but the temperature of the political climate.

So, the rush of those who want to be supportive of those people and their country has begun. We certainly do not want to offend them nor alienate them or castigate them for their ethnicity, color, or anything else. We should be nice to them.

But I ask, how does one approach over another make their conditions better and change their plight? To argue for moral ascendency in this argument does nothing to change things. It only consumes more emotion and more ink to paper. The core problem is poverty, sickness, ignorance and the need to escape it.

And for generations we have support rescue measures around the world. We send money, supplies, medicine, clean water and… We are gracious as a nation and are a generous people, but the conditions that we presume to change, do not change. They remain.

Possibly it would be good to back up, every one of us on either side or any side and take a look at the problem and the solution. If our solutions to date have not worked, then what should we be doing?

Why do people want to leave their country and come to America? Is it because of our scenery, our sports offerings, our religions, our varied cultures? WHY?

The question demands a clear and simple answer. We can all tell them why they should not want to come. They should not come to change us into what they left. No, that is not a good plan. Yet, there are pockets of our nation that are populated by immigrants that tend to reflect the countries they fled. Whose fault is that? If getting to America did not change one’s condition, then why come?

The simplest answer is, people come here because of our economic advantages. That is clear and simple. Yet, it is also clear that many do not accept the premise of our economic advantages and remain in a dependent state. If the expectation is that the American advantage should be given, then the expectation will always fail. It is not given, it is offered. We live in a free market economy in which support is earned and contributions are rewarded.

It would be good to look at the nations they come from. Is there anything similar about them that creates the conditions they flee? Of course, there is. All are dictatorial socialist states, where dependency is fostered and demanded. There is no freedom to get ahead and no opportunities for personal growth and creativity. The government system is a failure and it sucks the life out of everything. President Trump’s label is unacceptable, so chose one of your own if you like. The countries have failed their people and have created havoc.

In contrast, there looms one shining example of success and freedom: America. And so, it is that they come. One can hardly blame them. But they also come with a dependency orientation and cultural bias. They rely on the government for everything.

There is an orphanage in Uganda, that is a shining example of these contrasting principles. It does accept donations and is a non-profit organization, but the orphans that live there are different. They are different in expectation, work ethic, economics and everything. Their campus is spotless, they attend school and when they graduate from high school, there is an expectation that they will go on to college. Most do. Their hygiene is different, their sense of order and propriety is different and they end up being different.

They grow most of their own food, create ingenious and useful wares to sell in market outlets around them and are, in terms of their daily livelihood, self-sustaining. It is a part of their micro-culture and expectation. They ae a model that has gained the attention of local leaders and others around the world. It is called personal responsibility. Check out http://aidchild.org/  It is easy to understand why this model should be supported.

To say that other nations of the world cannot change or do what we do here is to shout at them the ultimate insult. It is to say we have to do for you because you are too stupid, ignorant or demented to do so for yourself. It is the ultimate of arrogance and serves no useful purpose. To rebuke President Trump for his alleged remarks at immigrants from certain nations, but to defend the conditions they come from, is similarly useless and inexcusable. Yes, the president is not very presidential at times and there is no excuse for that. But there is a deeper issue and that is the dynamics of why those nations are steeped in poverty, why their people want to leave and what should be done about it.

It is not a condition brought on by the location of the nation. It is a condition that is created. The cause has to be addressed if we are going to do anything for those people. Otherwise, we continue the dependency cycle and perpetuate the problem. Support success, don’t support failure. That is the axiom of treatment programs that work.