Let's spend AIDS money wisely

February 19, 2008

 

President Bush is urging the renewal of his AIDS package to Africa.  Some question the value of sending $30 billion overseas to fight a disease that is, without question, behaviorally spread.  The President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR, has raised the number of Africans on anti-retroviral treatments from around 50,000 to 1.2 million.  Thanks to our help, we now see children of AIDS-infected mothers being born HIV-free.  Education is an important aspect of solving the AIDS problem in Africa and abstinence is at the very heart of that solution.

The only thing that will stop the spread of AIDS in Africa or anywhere else is to stop the risky behavior.  In America, the problem is primarily in the gay community.  Gay advocates have long denied that fact but now they’re starting to realize that by ignoring the truth they are endangering lives.  Matt Foreman, outgoing Executive Director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, made a startling admission.  “Folks,” he said in a media release, “with 70 percent of the people in this country living with HIV being gay or bi, we cannot deny that HIV is a gay disease. We have to own that and face up to that.”  Foreman is exactly right.  Denial is deadly.  It prevents you from admitting you are the problem.  In the case of AIDS, it is the individuals who are the problem. 

That’s why it’s absolutely mind-blowing what the Democrats in congress want to do with the president’s AIDS relief package.  Currently, a third of the money spent in Africa is designated to abstinence programs.  Educating Africans on what causes AIDS and how they can prevent it is the only way to stop its spread.  I’m surprised we don’t demand at least half of the money go to abstinence.  But the Democrats want to strip that provision. 

We also currently require countries receiving the AIDS money sign pledges that they won’t legalize prostitution or sex trafficking.  The Democrats want to strip that provision, too.  In other words, the Democrats want to spend $30 billion of our hard-earned tax dollars with no responsibility required of the recipients.  What that means is the AIDS problem will get worse, not better, and we’ll continue to spend billions more on a problem that has but one solution.  Condoms and anti-retroviral drugs don’t cut it.  We’ve never found a cure for a virus and we don’t appear to be close to one now.  The only thing that will save lives is for people to stop the risky behavior.  You don’t need a boatload of money to do that.  You need education.  You need common sense, something our congress is woefully lacking.  You need to stop pandering.

The Democrats’ approach to solving the AIDS problem, whether it is here in America or overseas, completely ignores reality and focuses on not asking anything of those who pose the greatest danger.  It’s funny that we ask people not to smoke in order to decrease their chances of lung disease.  We even ban it from restaurants and other public places.  Yet, we won’t ask people to refrain from the behavior that puts them most at risk for AIDS.  Make no mistake, it’s promiscuous behavior that is at the root of AIDS.  Married African couples who don’t have sex outside their relationship having virtually no chance of getting the disease.  That’s what we should be emphasizing.  That’s where we should be spending our money. 

 

Problem is we have a bunch of free-loving old hippies who still believe this garbage of “love the one you’re with.”  And now, they’re running congress.