This is my latest column for The Tahlequah Christian for the week of January 24-30.
We’ve all watched and listened in horror to the unbelievable destruction in Haiti. Granting that a 7.0 magnitude earthquake is a devastating force, we should all be asking the question as to why the estimated death toll has skyrocketed to over 100,000 dead with countless other injuries. The greatest tragedy in Haiti has not been the earthquake itself, but the absolute lack of basic government services to support the population and insure safe living conditions for the people. This is a byproduct of rampant political instability in the country, an irony considering that it is one of the oldest republics in the Americas, gaining its independence in 1804 (that’s just 21 years after our recognized independence in 1783), and we seem to believe that democracy is the answer to any country’s political woes. continue reading…
