Frist Pushing Dem Agenda

Former Senator Dr. Frist is still blogging; this time he is using his name recognition to push support for ONE Vote '08, an effort designed to make world poverty and disease the central issue in the next presidential election.

Whilst this is an admirable goal, I deplore the effort to make this issue the centerpiece of our national elections when we are in the midst of a war on Islamofacism. Yet I am not surprised; Frist's agenda as senate majority leader rarely matched up with mine.

And what of ONE Vote '08 itself? Fighting disease, providing clean water and sending 77 million kids to school are all very excellent goals, but how does the organization suggest that these goals be achieved?

Well, according to One Vote '08, the United States should:

• Provide 1/3 of the additional $22 billion necessary to fight AIDS starting in 2008.
• Fund 1/3 of the $3.1 billion per year necessary to fight tuberculosis.
• Give 1/3 of the $1.8 billion per year to target malaria.
• Toss another $1.3 billion at "family planning and reproductive health" by 2012.
• Support "stronger health care systems" in deserving countries, improve access to vaccines and expand (i.e., throw money at) research efforts for new vaccines.
• "Aggressively scale up assistance" (i.e., throw money at) for approved country-owned national education plans, and provide funding for education in "weak and fragile states" through alternative means.
• Spend $3.3 billion annually until 2015 on "universal primary education".
• "Dramatically increase its spending on water and sanitation in developing
  countries" to the tune of $1.3 billion.
• Fund purchasing food from local markets rather than shipping surplus from American farmers.
• Increase funding for food aid and throwing resources at increasing agricultural productivity in developing countries.
• Work harder on debt cancellation for developing countries.
• Develop and fund "microfinance programs" that give at least 50% of their money to the very poor.
• Come up with "innovative means" to encourage investment in developing countries (can you say "tax breaks"?).

Is it just me, or is there a pattern emerging here? More money will solve all the world's problems. How terribly liberal of you, Doctor Frist.

While there are a (very) few policy recommendations made by the organization, they are poorly defined and serve to mainly direct how money will be spent, not how to encourage nations to do better themselves. For instance, One Vote '08 urges full implementation of Senator Paul Simon Water for the Poor Act, which was little more than yet another bipartisan unfunded government mandate (remember that Simon was a Democrat from Illinois).

There is no talk of education in treating AIDS. How do you stop the transmission of a sexually transmitted disease in a society in which women are routinely the object of brutal assault? In a country in which 60 children a day are raped? [A practice possibly fueled by the belief that sex with a virgin will cure AIDS and one that shows no indication of slowing anywhere in Africa.]

How do you stop sexually transmitted disease when men won't use condoms even when they are free? [There are 10 million condoms rotting in an Algerian warehouse because there are no takers. There are no takers because many believe that AIDS is transmitted through touch, and many others believe as the Imams preach — that is, AIDS is a punishment from God meant for sexual deviants like homosexuals. So why use a condom?]

So ONE Vote '08 gives up on education and focuses on convincing the American taxpayer to give, give, give.

Money doesn't buy happiness, and when given to nations it rarely does more than fill the pockets of corrupt politicians.

As Kenyan economist James Shikwati says, AIDS is big business in Africa, perhaps even the biggest:

Millions of dollars earmarked for the fight against AIDS are still stashed away in Kenyan bank accounts and have not been spent. Our politicians were overwhelmed with money, and they try to siphon off as much as possible. The late tyrant of the Central African Republic, Jean Bedel Bokassa, cynically summed it up by saying: "The French government pays for everything in our country. We ask the French for money. We get it, and then we waste it."

ONE Vote '08 doesn't talk about using DDT to fight malaria in Africa, even though it has been proven to be effective and safe.

There's no talk of fighting radicalism designed to keep the poor in misery.

And there's certainly no mention of taking down despots and tyrants to implement democratic reforms and capitalistic opportunities.

Dr. Frist, even though I've long suspected you are a bleeding-heart RINO, I truly expected more from you. So you'll understand when you don't receive any more donations to VOLPAC from this American taxpayer.

Blackburn Pro-Growth Score

Marsha Blackburn (my congressman) ranks 11th in the House of Representatives for pro-economic growth voting according to the 2006 Congressional Scorecard from the Club for Growth, receiving an 88.

Not bad to be 11th out of 429 representatives!

For comparison, my senators Frist and Alexander ranked 32nd (73) and 26th (78) respectively.