The anti-poverty coalition Micah Challenge has called on Britain’s new prime minister to take a stand to stamp out global poverty.
Former Chancellor Gordon Brown takes over today as 52nd prime minister of the United Kingdom. His predecessor, Tony Blair, recently pledged “complete support” for aims of the Micah Challenge to hold governments accountable for cutting poverty in half by 2015, and leaders of the Micah Challenge are now calling on Brown to do the same.
“Gordon Brown has a great track record for getting the British Government and the international community to honor the promises they have made to the world’s poorest people,” Andy Clasper, executive director of Micah Challenge UK, said in a statement. “Now Micah Challenge is challenging him to keep up the good work and make a positive difference to the world’s poor during his time as prime minister.”
If they really want to stamp out poverty once and for all, they should be urging PM Brown to:
* Rid these nations of their corrupt kleptocracies
* Stabilize their currencies
* Institute private property regimes in them
But I doubt that’s what they have in mind…
thanks be to god for Andy Clasper & the work of Micah Challenge UK
what would it be like to have a leader whose view of those in need was like this speech from brown:
let me say also that in the fourth richest country in the world it is simply wrong – wrong that any child should grow up in poverty. To address this poverty of income and to address also the poverty of aspirations by better parenting, better schools, and more one-to-one support, I want to bring together all the forces of compassion – charities, voluntary sector, local councils, so that at the heart of building a better Britain is the cause of ending child poverty.
Bob, why don’t you adopt a Franciscan lifestyle, and devote the excess to the charity of your choice.
Why does Andy Clasper rate capitalization and God doesn’t?
because bob is challenged by capitalism.
You know what is so sad about this is that Britain or the US for that matter could totaly impoverish itself and there would still be global poverty. It is also galling that many liberal actions that have resulted in the destruction of the family and other social structures are in part to blame.
#5
that is truly funny
Poverty is a systemic evil that cannot be wiped out by government fiat or by government programs.
Even in industerialized countries, poverty is indemic because poverty is the result of something more than the individual choices made by human beings. On the one hand, there is greed that runs capitalism. There the desire for power that ends up controlling socialism and communism. There is the desire for immediate satisfaction that ruins many people and gets them to focus on short term pleasure rather than long term goals. These forces combine to trap some people in poverty through drugs, sex, bad education, and low wages as well as lack of jobs at decent wages.
There does seem to be some correlation to a society built on the rule of law rather than the rule of men or women and societial wealth and productivity. Thus, kleptocrats and tyrannies should be shunned and people enabled to overthrow these governments.
Second, there is a correlation between being raised with your parents and future economic success. Thus, no fault divorce should be repealed when children are involved and out of wedlock births should be strongly discouraged. For those on government assistance, some form of automatic birth control should be used such as norplant.
Capitalism does seem to be the greatest engine for economic growth, but it lacks a soul. We need to remind those who hold economic power that they are responsible to the rest of society and urge them to give of their time and treasure to ease the suffering of those who cannot work. Finally, sloth is one of the seven deadly sins. For people to receive government largess, they should do something (within their abilities) to earn it. This creates a correlation between behavior and reward. Work is often its own reward.
Governments should encourage work and reward with sound fiscal and monetary policy and that policy should be informed by Christian values of justice and holiness.
YBIC,
Phil Snyder
Societal wealth is generated by secure property rights and the subdivision of labor. That’s really all there is to it.