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.