I read an article stating that the original 19 presidential candidates of 2008 raised and spent more than $1 billion in their efforts to add “Leader of the Free World” to their CVs.
The article’s authors noted a few alternative, and perhaps more appropriate, uses for that amount of cash. $1 billion would buy:
- Basic health coverage for 250,000 of the 46 million uninsured Americans.
- More than 415 million school lunches for needy American children.
- Nearly 6,700 fully armored Humvee’s for our sons, daughters, fathers, mothers, aunts, uncles, friends and neighbors serving in the military.
- Hurricane relief. Foreign nations offered nearly $1B in aid after Katrina. For reasons unknown to “we, the people,” none was accepted by our government.
- Treatment and prevention for more than 150 million cases of malaria in Africa.
So I ask you… if “we, the people” could raise $1 billion, would we use it to change the world? Tell me what you think should be at the top of the list.