Dead 8

During the Jacksonian era, a distinguished Naval Officer had passed away and a bill was introduced in Congress to give money to his widow. A number of moving speeches were given on her behalf, and the bill seemed destined to pass unanimously. Then a congressman from Tennessee named Davey Crockett gave an alternate suggestion. Instead of taking tax dollars from the public to give to the widow, he offered to give one week's pay out of his own pocket to the widow and suggested the rest of the members of Congress do the same. Crockett believed that "we have the right as individuals, to give away as much of our own money as we please in charity; but as members of Congress we have no right to appropriate a dollar of the public money." After hearing the speech, almost all of the members of the House reversed their intended vote and the bill was soundly defeated. Crockett and the rest of Congress back then understood that there is absolutely nothing charitable or compassionate about taking taxpayers money and giving it to the needy. It is easy to be generous with other people's money, but true charity is voluntary.

This lesson obviously escaped the organizers of Live 8, a series of ten free concerts around the world that featured many of the biggest names in rock and pop like U2, Paul McCartney, Madonna, Jay- Z, Sting, and Elton John. All of these rock stars could have given millions of dollars of their own money to charity. Instead, the concerts were designed solely to convince the G8 nations to forgive debt to Third World countries, or in other words, to coerce the taxpayers of the developed world to give money to poorer countries.

This is especially unfortunate, because many of the founders of Live 8 were also involved in Live Aid twenty years ago. Live Aid was two charitable concerts that embodied the Crockett style of compassion. British musicians Bob Geldof and Midge Ure conceived the concerts in 1985. They planned a benefit to help famine struck Ethiopia and hoped to raise one million pounds. The dual concerts that occurred in both Philadelphia and London ended up raising over 150 million pounds for famine relief from record and ticket sales and television rights. The giving did not end there. Live Aid also inspired Hearing Aid, a group of heavy metal artists who raised money for similar causes, and Farm Aid, a now annual concert of rock and country artists who raise money for family farmers in America. Live Aid showed the power of voluntary initiatives, and the generosity of the West when people have the opportunity to give.

Some criticized Live Aid as an example of self-important celebrities exploiting poor Africans to sell their own records. The left wing punk band Chumbawumba named an album "Pictures of Starving Children Sell Records" to mock the bands. In a sense they were right. The concert helped boost the career for many of the acts who played there. But this is not a bad thing. It demonstrates how capitalism and compassion are compatible. Not everyone is Mother Teresa, and most people are more likely to do good if they feel that they may get something in return. The starving children who were fed because of Live Aid didn't care if the food they got helped boost The Who's record sales.

Instead of asking for money like Live Aid, Live 8 tries to create a political movement. The concerts that could have raised tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars for the needy were free. The organizers even banned charitable organizations from soliciting donations at the shows. It's website proclaimed, “We don’t want your money – we want you!" This slogan is misleading, as they do want your money. They just don't want you to give it to them; they want your government to take it from you.

The international outpouring of support after the Tsunami this past winter shows that the people of the world, particularly Americans, are more than willing to open up their hearts and their pocketbooks to those less fortunate. However, Americans do not like having politicians or celebrities forcing them to give to the poor. Polls consistently show that foreign aid has always been one of the least popular government programs.

The G8 nations ended up forgiving forty billion dollars in debt to eighteen poor countries. Many analysts in the West and the Third World question whether these measures will actually help. Kenyan economist James Shikwati told the German newspaper Spiegel that because of Western aid to Africa, "Huge bureaucracies are financed (with the aid money), corruption and complacency are promoted, [and] Africans are taught to be beggars and not to be independent. In addition, development aid weakens the local markets everywhere and dampens the spirit of entrepreneurship that we so desperately need." Regardless of whether the money ends up going to the truly needy or to the dictators and bureaucrats, for all the self-congratulatory talk from the politicians and rock stars, they are simply applauding themselves for what Davey Crockett called, "giving what was not yours to give."

July 18, 2005