Today, I am going to write a post PRAISING George W. Bush. That’s right, you heard me correctly. I am going to praise him for something wonderful he has done. Something that is so close to my heart, and my life’s cause, that I can’t let it go by without acknowledgement. Does this mean that I think that this nullifies all of his other fuck ups? No, but it does mean that I can definitely see good where it truly shines; and today, that is in Bush’s recent requests from Congress.
Yesterday, Bush requested that Congress authorize $30 billion dollars to combat AIDS, and to provide medications for those afflicted with the disease. This money would go towards stopping AIDS worldwide, and providing medications for those that cannot afford it, in areas that are too poor to afford outrageous pharmaceutical mark ups. This is in addition to the $15 billion that he asked for back in 2003, and shows a clear and concentrated effort to truly help those afflicted with AIDS worldwide. This is amazing coming from the president, especially when you consider, that Reagan never even said the world AIDS during his presidency. Truly a monumental achievement to have our president focused on such an amazingly humanitarian effort.
I am honestly speechless that this amazingly large support for ending AIDS worldwide comes from a president that still touts abstinence only as the only method we can use in teaching our children how to prevent HIV infection in the states. At least somewhere in him, he realizes that the need for more than that is real, and as such, he is actually working with world leaders to make this a global effort.
There are critics to his plan, that focus on the fact that this is not enough money to truly make the type of dent that is necessary to take control of the epidemic. While I do agree that it is not enough, and while I see where they are coming from, I think that Bush has the right idea; it is important for every nation that can throw money at this thing to throw money at it. It can’t be something that the US does alone; if we want to stop it worldwide, we have got to use the rest of the world to do it with us. I for one, am excited to see what comes out of the upcoming global summit, with regards to what other top nations are going to offer as well. I will also have my attention focused on what Bush says about climate change, but we won’t get into that today, because I want to focus on the positive.
Bush, you have done a great thing. Even if one of your main motivators is giving the US good face, since we have been responsible for the killing of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, it is STILL a good thing. I do, however, find it extremely odd that Christians, and Christian conservatives are so willing to embrace these efforts to help those that need it most in developing nations, when they continue to turn their backs on the people right at their doorsteps. I also find it weird that the focus on ridding the world of AIDS seems to be solely focused on the developing world, when it is still a real problem here in the US. I know that you can’t always have your cake and eat it too, and I certainly don’t want to look a gift horse in the mouth, so these are things that I will just silently ponder; because while they are still important points, I don’t want to shit on the good that is being done with this initiative.
Again, THANK YOU Mr. Bush for showing that you have a compassionate bone in your body. Perhaps, this effort for the US to provide more generosity (even if it is only for the sake of saving face) will spill over into other issues, and we can continue to do more good in the world; perhaps so much, that we can stop doing the bad things, and focus solely on the good things. This is the direction we need to be going in as a nation, and I for one, am glad to see that not only are we capable of doing it, but there is at least some momentum that is going in that direction; even if it is only a little bit. If we want to have a great nation, we have to have it in a great world, and the only way we are going to make that happen, is through leadership, support, and compassion. The only way to make ourselves truly great, is to help those that we can, and do what is right.