Bush's Africa Policy - The Best of the Worst

To sound like a broken record and wear out a topic that's probably going to surface alot for this particular blog post assignment, Bush's African policies have generally been met with praise and survived public scrutiny with only mild criticism. His Africa policy is generally "good" - it's about the only area of his policy initiatives that receives consistent, mild praise rather than constant attacks and criticisms in the press. Everyone knows this.

But in an opinion piece for The New York Times, Josh Ruxin, a Columbia University expert on public health who has lived in Rwanda for the past few years, offers a knowledgeable, expert perspective on Bush's Africa policy more well-informed, reasoned and researched than most.

http://kristof.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02/20/bush-aids-business-and-africa/?scp=5&sq=Bush%20+%20positive%20press%20+%20Africa&st=cse

Ruxin writes in February 2008, reflecting on one of Bush's visits to Africa: "A big reason for the president’s visit is to see firsthand the progress made by the life-saving initiatives he set in motion through his administration’s programs. More than $19 billion has been invested in programs to fight AIDS, malaria and other killers. More than one million Africans with AIDS have been put on AIDS drugs, and new programs are aggressively treating and preventing malaria, the biggest killer of children under five on the continent. Though more needs to be done going forward, the Bush years have been a time when a foundation was laid for meaningful global public health interventions, and it’s right for the president to see the real impact of the United States dollars on African lives." Ruxin praises Bush's direct aid initiatives and the millions of dollars the President donated, in direct relief, to the continent.

But Ruxin goes on, throughout the rest of his blog post, to call for more than mere aid for Africa. He wants business directives and business initiatives. He wants to see businesses set up shop in Africa, because moving African countries toward economic prosperity is key in solving the AIDS epidemic, or at least in reducing AIDS in Africa to European and North American levels. With businesses and jobs come self-sufficiency and prosperity, which is what the continent needs even more than, but in conjunction with, direct aid. Business initiatives in Africa are just as essential to solving the problem of AIDS in Africa as direct relief.

This isn't a criticism of Bush directly or personally, but I think a call to Republicans in America and Republican ideals in America. Ruxin, to a certain extent, is espousing capitalism's ability to confer and bring prosperity to a society, of a kind which could alleviate many of Africa's health problems and most particularly its problems with AIDS and malaria. It's a very Republican ideal - faith in the free market economy and business to confer prosperity and a higher quality of life. Ruxin is appealing to Republican philanthropic impulses and private enterprise in giving Africa the material and kind of long-lasting change and relief the continent and its people truly need. He's calling for a new Republican experiment in Africa. At least in terms of Africa, Republicanism in its most idealistic form, might work.