The tragedy in Haiti, and our response to it, has been both devastating and encouraging. As the saying goes, in times of crisis both the best and the worst come out in people. While some heroically step up to help their neighbors, others loot and attack. Personally, I’ve had a difficult time watching the news, watching people dying in front of my eyes. Wyclef Jean was on the news talking about how he and his wife had spent all day Thursday removing dead bodies from the middle of the streets, hoping to preserve some kind of dignity to the victims. I’ve had to shut the news off, not because I’m callous but because it’s all too real and too heart-breaking.

Those that study how earthquakes affect physical structures have a saying: earthquakes don’t kill people, buildings do. The devastation in Haiti is a result of two things: lack of economic development and hurricanes. Hurricanes wreak havoc on Haiti frequently, so structures are made with very heavy roofs. Lack of economic development means that Haiti’s brick structures, including walls, are made without reinforcing steel bars (rebar). They are made with more sand and less concrete. A earthquake that would just crack an American wall will take down a Haitian one. That’s not jingoism — it’s science. Heavy roofs + weak walls + earthquakes = disaster.

The Obama administration has pledged $100 million to Haiti. This is a paltry sum — the NBC late night disaster was recently reported to cost NBC about $200 million — but it’s still $100 million too much. It is not the federal goverment’s responsibility to provide money to people in other countries. Our founders had a problem even with using federal resources to help individual states, let alone other countries. That’s the U.N.’s job.

Our government has the ability to help in many ways and marshall many assets that the private sector simply cannot: coast guard ships and helicopters, for example. But giving money is not their job. It is the responsibility of every citizen across this great country to give what they can. Most of the funds to help the people of Haiti will come from charity — private citizens and firms, as it used to be done. As it was done after the great fire in Chicago. As it was done after the 1906 earthquake in San Francisco. But when you set the precedent that after every natural disaster the federal government will provide not just emergency disaster relief but long-term financial relief, it’s hard to draw the line.

Watching football this weekend, I was impressed at the speed with which we have set up campaigns to help the Haitian people. I am also impressed by our ability to use technology for this – text the word “Haiti” to 90999 and a charitable donation of $10 will be made to the Red Cross and you can pay for it on your next mobile phone bill. Amazing. I’m confident that the Red Cross will raise more for Haiti than was raised for tsunami relief a few years ago, but I wonder how much will be a result of the devastation itself or the proximity of Haiti to the US, and how much will be because it’s just so much easier for people to donate this time around.

I encourage you to do what I’m going to do and cut back on some spending this next week or two and make a little donation to the Red Cross. You can bring lunch to school instead of buying it, or buy regular coffee instead of a fancy mocha. A lot of us have already started doing those things because of the recession, but there are still other ways we can all save money if we need to.

We are the greatest, most generous country on the planet. People in other countries call us empirialistic, hegemonic, warmongering, rude Americans…and then tragedy strikes and they desperately plead for us to help them. Let us not let those pleas go unheard. Let’s show that the American people and the American government are not the same thing. Let’s show that we do not need the government to provide everything for us, and that private charities can do a much better job of raising funds and delivering help to people who need it than some bureaucrat in Washington ever could.