Only Three More Shopping Days Left.

For you Episcopalians out there, don't forget that this Sunday is 'Millennium Development Goals Sunday'. Really. I have no idea what it means exactly, but I know it must be important - The Millennium Development Goals, along with "full inclusion" and real estate, seems to be the main focus of our current Presiding Bishop. She's just crazy for them! (And not so crazy about that sin/salvation thing - much too.... limiting.)

I've read through the UN's Millennium Development Goals, and they are quite laudable. And like so much the UN puts to paper, utterly unachievable in anything other than a dream world. But I do not think achieving them is really the point. If it were, The Episcopal Church (tm) would be dumping tens of millions from the Church Pension Fund and other holdings into their realization. They're not, which should tell you something. I think the ultimate goal of the Millennium Development Goals is to be a another stick to smack the "rich" (prosperous nations living in freedom and democracy) for not helping the "poor" (starving nations living in authoritarian dictatorship). Take a look at Zimbabwe. In 1980, they could feed their nation and even exported foodstuffs. Now, they are a basket case ruled by a delusional strongman who has run the economy, and the people, into the ground trying to make socialism work. And somehow, our money will fix all that?? Giving a few million to Robert Mugabe's government wouldn't solve a thing; we've tried that already. So when they ask you to put a check in the collection plate this Sunday for the Millennium Development Goals, ask yourself this question: What would save more lives in Africa - giving a few million more bucks to an authoritarian government (or to an NGO who enables those governments to survive); or paying for a platoon of Marines in Darfur to stand between the starving local population and the government-sponsored Islamic radicals? Me, I'm writing a check to the USMC.

I think there is a bigger lesson here, too. Look at all of the "rich" nations who are prospering, and you will see something they have in common - a (mostly) free economy and an educated workforce. Hell, even the Communist Chinese figured out that Milton Freedman was a better economist than Karl Marx. Or Mao. In short, Capitalism works a damn sight better than Socialism at feeding and educating the people. (Compare North and South Korea.) If it didn't, we'd be the ones needing aid from Cuba, Zimbabwe, and North Korea. So if you really want to change the world Kate+, remember this: Give a man a fish (or a woman - I'm not trying to be sexist), and he will eat for a day; teach a man to make a profit at fishing and give him access to free markets, and he, and his family, and the families of those he employs, will eat for years.