Okay. I know. You’re thinking that the tragic earthquake in Haiti is an extremely sensitive issue and this isn’t the right time to talk about it in any way other than by expressing sympathy and sorrow. Indeed, it is the worst natural and humanitarian disaster the Western Hemisphere has seen since at least Hurricane Katrina and possibly much longer. Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past few days, the media has reminded us time and time again it’s a “double-whammy” so to say. Few nations had less capacity to deal with such a tragedy than Haiti.

This is the point I want to focus on. Haiti is practically in the backyard of the richest nation in the world. The two former colonies, of France and England respectively, were the first two nations to gain independence in the Western Hemisphere, both over two hundred years ago. Yet their histories as independent nations couldn’t differ more. Haiti, along with Afghanistan and East Timor are the only nations outside of Africa on the United Nations Human Development Index list of least developed countries. Nearly eighty percent of the population lives on less than $2 a day. Haiti has had a consistently unstable government, has little social capital and is basically bankrupt of natural resources. It doesn’t take a genius to realize that they’ll need more than a little push from the outside world if they ever are to sustainably climb out of poverty.

America’s generous aid to Haiti has done little, and in fact its policy toward the nation is nothing short of a disaster in and of itself. Matt posted a link yesterday explaining this in further detail. Just think about the difference in terms of lives saved a Haiti with strong government institutions and without makeshift infrastructure could have made. By comparison, the quake is expected to claim 45,000 to 50,000 lives while one of the same magnitude in the Bay Area in 1989 took only 63 lives. The stories should not focus on how unfortunate this natural disaster is but rather the extreme poverty that caused it.

Everything happens for a reason. As cruel as the situation may seem, we must take it as an opportunity to rethink our approach to tackling global poverty if any real good is to come from it. The international effort currently going on to provide relief is one of admirable and unforeseen proportions. It is something we can all be proud of. Yet it is a microcosm of what is wrong with our past efforts. The President has pledged $100 million in aid, thousands of basic first aid kits were be dropped at the airport along with food and water, and hundreds of highly trained search and rescue workers have made their way to Haiti. But they’re all worthless if we don’t know how or maybe even can’t deploy them and all of the assistance is stuck at the airport. Both our macro and micro level efforts have failed. It’s time for some new ideas.

David Brooks in his column today suggests that we tackle the issue of culture as an impediment to growth, despite what our politically correct age tells us. Referencing “The Central Liberal Truth” by Lawrence E. Harrison, he explains that Haiti, like most of the world’s poorest nations, suffers from a complex web of progress-resistant cultural influences. There is the influence of the voodoo religion, which spreads the message that life is capricious and planning futile. There are high levels of social mistrust. Responsibility is often not internalized. Child-rearing practices often involve neglect in the early years and harsh retribution when kids hit 9 or 10.

Even if we cannot understand the sources of poverty in a befuddling country such as Haiti, we don’t have to care in order to bring about real change. Controversial as it may be, what Haiti might really need is for local leaders to bring about a highly intensive culture of achievement with tough and measurable demands. Cultural change is hard. But maybe this cultural catastrophe that destroyed what little Haiti had is enough of a space, and opening, to build something new with the help of a vigilant, thoughtful and creative outside world. Helping Haiti clean up and get back to where is was is not acceptable. We must take advantage of the worst of times in order to shake off our rigid and false assumptions, bringing out the best in humanity.

On a side note, USAID finally has a new chief. Despite the fact that he was only about a week into his new job before disaster struck, initial reports have the Clinton recruit performing admirably.