I am most deeply concerned about Bill Clinton’s “win-win” philosophy, and consider it a real menace in Haiti. When Clinton stands between an industrial titan and a small underdeveloped nation and claims a pending win-win victory, the world ought to wince rather than clap. Why? Because it is far more likely that a 20-something intern will end up married to an adulterous president than that a small, developing country will benefit from a partnership with a global money-grabber of the sort Clinton attracts.
In dire economic and social conditions, the common good cannot be properly fed by a win-win approach. On the basis of what I have observed during my 20 years in the mission field, in the case of extremely underdeveloped and impoverished countries like Haiti, only a "lose-win" approach, one based in actual altruism, can kick-start real social and economic change.
Not everything good for society is win-win. The disadvantage of others is not a public stage for legacy hunters or an opportunity for profit seekers — it is a reason for each one of us to make a sacrifice (lose) so others might advance (win). The support of the common good often requires selfless participation and clear, farsighted vision. This is why the common good is so often best served by the church or the state with the generous support, but not direct control, of the private sector. Public and parochial education are great examples.
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One example of Bill Clinton's dressing a wolf in lamb's clothing with his win-win spell is the Irish telecom mogul Denis O’Brien. Clinton cannot seem to praise his billionaire friend and foundation donor enough. In an article he penned for Time, Clinton wrote, “In Haiti ... phones have revolutionized the average person's access to financial opportunity,” and goes on to write glowingly about O’Brien’s role in Haiti’s mobile “revolution.”
What has O’Brien accomplished in Haiti? He has succeeded in driving out his U.S.-owned competitor through his deft handling of the Haitian government. He also maneuvered Digicel into the position of being the mobile distributer of relief dollars sent to Haiti from abroad and of Haiti’s own state welfare program for single mothers. Unbelievably, he beat the partially state-owned Natcom for these contracts.
Today, Digicel soaks up nearly 10 percent of Haiti’s real GDP by taking veritable pennies at a time from the pockets of the poorest people in the Western Hemisphere. To get a bit more, O’Brien has encouraged his clients to play the lottery on the same phones Clinton claims have revolutionized banking for the poor. To be clear, O’Brien essentially put a slot machine in a bank parlor. Win-win?
