Date: January 2003
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - The popular
Emmy award-winning series "The
West Wing" recently featured a presidential quandary in a segment
titled, "Guns, not Butter" which illustrates the US government
tendency to be more in favor of money for military
action than foreign aid. Indeed, the statistic
of the United States being dead last
among 21 nations in terms of giving to foreign
aid for the needs of the poor was clearly stated
in the script. Less than 1% of the
(1.7) trillion dollar US budget goes to foreign
aid.
The producers for the leading political series " "The
West Wing" " decided to write in a part for a leading
world hunger organization, Heifer International, to illustrate the
reality of the world hunger crisis and the political decisions that
influence our country's foreign aid for the thousands of people
who die from conditions related to hunger everyday. Says the fictional
president Bartlett to the Senate in "Guns, Not Butter" episode:
| "We live in an interdependent world
and we should act like it. We live in a global community and we
should sustain it. We should cross borders. We should cross borders
and build sustainable Democracies that can banish privation and
fear. And we should cross borders to bring food and medicine and
roads and schools and teachers to parts of the world forgotten
by all but the warlords. We're going to pass the Foreign Ops bill.
This should be a century of hope and prosperity everywhere. And
America's going to lead the world and not just bully it." |
"A dairy goat waited patiently throughout the
show to be in a photo shoot with "The West Wing's" President
Bartlett. After his 17 billion dollar Foreign
Aid bill was defeated, and the opposing party's
military budget increase was passed, he
and his staff members still posed with the
goat, showing solidarity with the goal
of ending world hunger.
Instrumental to "The West Wing" producers becoming
familiar with Heifer International is Bradley
Whitford who plays the character
Josh Lyman, President Bartlett's advisor.
Whitford, and wife, Jane Kaczmarek, are avid
supporters of Heifer International. Says Whitford, "Heifer's
work makes sense. It's a sustainable, life
changing opportunity for those facing horrific
barriers to a dependable supply of food
and income."
Stranger than fiction to most Americans is that war is often rooted
in the crisis of hunger, and hunger is a direct result of war -
a vicious cycle that must be broken if we are ever to see real world
peace. It's not an "either/or" solution - war or butter.
The goal of Heifer International, and the imaginary presidential
staff of "The West Wing" is to address the needs of the
desperately hungry in a sustainable way. If the power of imagination
and media suggestion wins out, the world will someday be a better
place.
Heifer International supplies sustainable resources of livestock
and agricultural training to communities in 47 countries around
the world. For more information, visit www.heifer.org.
Source | Off-site
Link
[Heifer International] |
