The price of freedom
Liberals like Ted Kennedy are calling for a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq. But that begs the central question: whether defeating the insurgents and foreign fighters in Iraq and establishing a stable democracy there is worth it. The broader question is whether freedom and democracy themselves are worth it.
Dissent in the United States is a right of a free people. But we are too quick to forget the cost in blood for the freedom we celebrate today.
Selfish isolationism in the face of tyranny and poverty in the majority of the world is not worthy of a wealthy and free people.
I subscribe to the "flypaper" theory about the war in Iraq: we are attracting terrorists to fight and die there, rather than launch attacks elsewhere, including in the U.S. I also believe that a democratic Iraq will transform the Middle East. And I believe the price is worth it.
At the Patriotic Service held in connection with America's Freedom Festival at Provo last night, Dr. Muhammad Yunus, founder of the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, was honored as a recipient of one of the Festival's "Freedom Awards." His bank gives tiny loans ($10) to the world's poor (so far nearly 5,000,000 recipients) so they can buy a cow, or a rice harvester, and thus start a business to lift themselves out of poverty.
Dr. Yunus said that 4 billion of the world's 6 billion people are not considered creditworthy because they have no collateral. His bank fills the credit gap.
He said the first generation of his bank's loan recipients were illiterate. But their children are now educated, and are becoming doctors and educators themselves. They are also repaying their loans. And his bank is profitable.
Dr. Yunus believes that credit is the key to relieving the world's poverty.
My oldest son is currently serving an internship in Honduras for Cause for Hope. He's evaluating the effectiveness of microloans, as well as teaching business seminars to help people become self-reliant.
America and American institutions should continue to be generous in spreading democracy and financial freedom around the world. Goethe wrote that "what we have inherited from our fathers, we must earn to keep." Part of the price of freedom is the obligation to maintain and share it.
Dissent in the United States is a right of a free people. But we are too quick to forget the cost in blood for the freedom we celebrate today.
Selfish isolationism in the face of tyranny and poverty in the majority of the world is not worthy of a wealthy and free people.
I subscribe to the "flypaper" theory about the war in Iraq: we are attracting terrorists to fight and die there, rather than launch attacks elsewhere, including in the U.S. I also believe that a democratic Iraq will transform the Middle East. And I believe the price is worth it.
At the Patriotic Service held in connection with America's Freedom Festival at Provo last night, Dr. Muhammad Yunus, founder of the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, was honored as a recipient of one of the Festival's "Freedom Awards." His bank gives tiny loans ($10) to the world's poor (so far nearly 5,000,000 recipients) so they can buy a cow, or a rice harvester, and thus start a business to lift themselves out of poverty.
Dr. Yunus said that 4 billion of the world's 6 billion people are not considered creditworthy because they have no collateral. His bank fills the credit gap.
He said the first generation of his bank's loan recipients were illiterate. But their children are now educated, and are becoming doctors and educators themselves. They are also repaying their loans. And his bank is profitable.
Dr. Yunus believes that credit is the key to relieving the world's poverty.
My oldest son is currently serving an internship in Honduras for Cause for Hope. He's evaluating the effectiveness of microloans, as well as teaching business seminars to help people become self-reliant.
America and American institutions should continue to be generous in spreading democracy and financial freedom around the world. Goethe wrote that "what we have inherited from our fathers, we must earn to keep." Part of the price of freedom is the obligation to maintain and share it.
posted by Barney at 1:28 PM
1 Comments:
Well-said.
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