All this week I've seen my YAL Facebook friends asking for donations to the humanitarian aid efforts in Haiti. I have nothing but praise for this. People doing good through their free will is the only moral way to give to charity. But I can't help but wonder why the crisis was so bad. Below, Wall Street Journal columnist Mary O'Grady explains why.

As O'Grady explains, the reason why Haiti is so poor is that we in richer countries have propped up bad regimes in Haiti. Besides that, we've stifled free trade through tariffs on their sugar, among other things. Imagine how many people would be alive today if Haiti was rich enough to have sturdier buildings, a more efficient police force, an honest government, and better medical services?