Good intentions don't always mean good policies

First off let me say that I appreciate the noble effort of Live8 participators--musicians, authors and a plethora of other celebrities. There's no doubt the care and compassion they have for the world's poor. But could that compassion be smarter and more efficient?

The Live8-ers want to eliminate billions and billions of dollars in debt that various African nations owe to the West, hoping that it will relieve the strain on the hordes of poor folks living there. Yet, this assumes that the money we give to Africa actually gets to the people we intend to help. According to WORLD, the editorial board of Kairos Journal writes:

Debt forgiveness rewards the corruption and inefficiency of governments who have mishandled loaned funds... In forgiving the debt of poor nations, we're not forgiving the debts of those nation's poor; we're merely enabling bureaucratic perfidy and incompetence.

This is evidenced most recently by Robert Mugabe's regime in Zimbabwe,

where food shortages this months sparked street riots while government policies have destroyed the country's agriculture base and have limited UN relief.

Not to mention the bureaucratic red tape that relief often get through:

In May the World Bank discovered that much of the aid sent to Sri Lanka was sitting in docks, stalled by red tape and listless bureaucrats.

So are the other ways of pulling African nations out of poverty and debt?

Southeast Asia and India...[with] once-stricken economies, are trading their way out of poverty.

Most importantly, simply forgiving debt as the answer to poverty ignores the importance and relevance of faith-based programs. Says Gregory Alan Thornbury, senior fellow at Kairos Journal, "without spiritual transformation, the cycle of poverty will only continue."

The West should be far more strict in keeping nations accountable with our resources--not just for our own good, but theirs as well. I'd rather give nothing at all and work for regime change by restricting trade or placing embargoes than padding the pockets of dictators and thugs. Also, the West should reward private organizations with funds and/or tax breaks based on results alone, regardless of religious affiliation. Helping out a successful relief organization that happens to operate within a Biblical worldview (or Islamic, or Hindi, or Mormon) does not constitute a law that establishes a religion. The state should not be afraid of religion, especially when that fear could cost it a valuable ally in the war on poverty.