Cliff Speaks One Message, Votes Another ... But Voters Are Listening

Stearns Opposes Measure to Save Millions of Lives and
Prevent Children from Being Orphaned

The visit of Pope Benedict XVI and the message he preached brings to mind a significant American humanitarian initiative. The House of Representatives voted April 2nd to triple to more than $10 billion a year the spending by the United States on a program to combat AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis primarily in Africa, but in other affected world regions as well.

Of the $50 billion over five years, about $41 billion would be devoted to AIDS, expanding an initiative already credited with saving over a million lives in Africa alone. 
 This expansion is expected to save millions of more lives and to dramatically improve far more than the physical health of the region. The effort has garnered support from both political parties and of President Bush, not only because of its success and moral virtue, but also because of its promotion of stability and security. But even that is not enough to soften the heart and open the mind of U. S. Rep. Clifford B. Stearns (R, FL 6th Cong. Dist.).

While over 300 members of the U.S. House voted join with President Bush and to support this life-saving initiative earlier this month, including scores of Republicans, Stearns was not among them. And he has been conspicuously silent as to his reasons. His neighboring Republican colleague U. S. Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite (R, FL 5th Cong. Dist.) called the program “ludicrous” in a message to constituents entitled “Taxpayer Funds Should be Spent Here in America, Not Sent Overseas." She and Stearns should keep that title in mind when they consider the hundreds of billions of U. S. taxpayer dollars being poured into the sands of the Iraqi desert.

$10 billion a year is a lot of money—about nine cents a day from every American citizen; but, it’s far less than is being spent every month on our military policing of the Iraq civil war.

As disappointing as Cliff Stearns' vote against the African health initiative is, it's not surprising. Actually that this humanitarian effort has been promoted by George W. Bush is surprising--a glimmer of humanity amongst a dark night of indifference to human suffering by the Bush-Cheney administration.

I've criticized Stearns for being a Bush-Cheney "rubber stamp". Now he's gone even further, displaying a callous indifference to a pandemic of AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria that is not only destroying the lives of its direct victims, but turning millions of African children into orphans as their parents succumb to these insidious diseases.

During his visit to the United States, Pope Benedict has reminded us that people of all faiths and philosophies must share a common concern for “the least of our brethren” in order to achieve a world of justice, harmony, and peace. A consistent ethic of life demands that we heal the sick, and a commitment to 'family values' compels us to prevent more children from being thrust into the perils of poverty, homelessness, hunger, and abuse, when mother and father perish before their children's eyes. But, I guess Mr. Stearns likes to talk about family values more than he likes to act on them.

For a moment, though, let' s set aside that the largest, most prosperous country in the world should do its part in alleviating the horrendous human suffering in Africa just because it is morally appropriate. Let's set aside that saving at least a million lives would cost far less than the total cost of the Iraq war for just one month.

Instead let's look at one of the founding principles of our American republic--enlightened self-interest, and at the simple practical common sense that "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."

Add to this African disease menace the escalating worldwide crisis of rampant hunger, and we have a threat to world peace and security of epic proportions. Around the globe severe food shortages are accompanied by the cost of basic commodities more than doubling in just a few months because of the diversion of food staples into bio-energy production. When people are ill and hungry, they cannot work, cannot care for themselves or their children, and cannot escape poverty and exploitation. The result is economic collapse, social desperation, and political disintegration that destabilizes families, communities, and governments, and imperils the security of the entire region, and the world.

If we do not act now in the face of disease, deprivation, and death, then we will be as guilty as those who ignored the beaten man eventually rescued by the good Samaritan. If we do not act now to forestall the demise of Africa's social, economic, and political infrastructure, then we will pay the price a hundredfold as the chaos spills across borders throughout the world, in corruption, riots, terrorism, and war.

So, Mr. Stearns, we are perplexed.
Support for this initiative will promote life, will preserve families, and will bolster our own security.
You say you support these values, but you vote against them.
Actions speak louder than words ... and the voters are listening.