We need more heart, more than ever
In an editorial in the Times Magazine last week called The Tug of Paternalism, James Traub makes a powerful argument for allowing the heart to enter our policy making. He is speaking specifically of deciding whether to intervene in Liberia, but his call for more heart could serve as well in any area of policy, foreign or domestic. He writes,

"When Liberian citizens late last month deposited the corpses of their friends and loved ones, killed by rebel shells, at the gate of the American Embassy compound in the capital of Monrovia, they were not only issuing a desperate plea for salvation but also making a statement of responsibility: it is you, the United States, who must answer our prayers....

"For all the talk of global integration, the fate of the very poorest countries has become, if anything, a matter of even greater indifference to the rich ones than it used to be. Virtually the entirety of West Africa, and for that matter the equally beleaguered nations of central Africa, like Burundi, offer little strategic and only potential economic value to the West and do not really figure in the war on terrorism. And the fate of Rwanda proves all too clearly that, in the absence of self-interest, appeals to common humanity will not bring rescue.

"And so these countries are left with no claims save the utterly unexpected one: paternalism. What could be more archaic in this globalized age? And isn't there something here of the former servant throwing himself on the mercy of his master? Well, yes. And that is a terrible affirmation of failure. But is paternalism so very bad? It's an acknowledgment of obligations incurred by shared history. It's an expression of kinship. After all, Liberia looks to the United States because the United States is in its blood. It is not simply pro-American but, in some odd but meaningful way, American."