The Wrong Thing for the Right Reason

Hearts of Darkness

But paternalism's centrally directed systems of subsidies failed to raise up submerged classes, and by the end of the twentieth century even many liberals, surveying the cultural wreckage left behind by the Great Society, had abandoned their faith in the welfare state.

Yet in one area, foreign aid, the paternalist spirit is far from dead. A new generation of economists and activists is calling for a "big push" in Africa to expand programs that in practice institutionalize poverty rather than end it. The Africrats' enthusiasm for the failed policies of the past threatens to turn a struggling continent into a permanent ghetto—and to block the progress of ideas that really can liberate Africa’s oppressed populations.

Barack Obama is among those who think handing out (other peoples) money is the answer.

Obama said. "It must be a priority of American foreign policy to commit to eliminating extreme poverty and ensuring every child has food, shelter, and clean drinking water.

No. Not of American foreign policy. No. It must be a priority of all peoples of the world, who are able, to commit to eliminating extreme poverty and ensuring every child has food, shelter, and clean drinking water through private contributions and private charities - and not just by handing out food and money everywhere. Government = bureaucracy, inaction, waste and corruption. Look at the United Nations, look at FEMA.