Earlier this month, when the U.S. government was voting on the President’s budget, I think I heard that we were giving a BILLION….that’s right a billion with a “b”….dollars each to Jordan, Israel and the Philippines. Unfortunately, our largess didn’t stop there, but those three caught my attention.
I would be the first to admit that I am not well versed in international politics. I know that administrations prior to this one have paid out huge sums in an effort to shore up friendly countries, or to try to bribe unfriendly ones into seeing us more favorably. It seems to me that most of that has backfired and left us with a large part of the world assuming that there will be never-ending handouts. Despite our generosity, we are now hated across the world.
I don’t understand why we are giving such large amounts to these countries. What have they done that warrants us supporting them? Are we paying Israel because it kept out of the war and kept a low profile? And why are we supporting the Philippines? I just don’t understand. Even more, I object to the blackmail coming from North Korea. “Pay us, or we’ll send a nuclear suitcase bomb to you!”
We’ve helped to free Afghanistan from the tyranny over there, and we’re told that if we don’t rebuild their country faster, they will let the tyrants back in. What ever happened to the concept of pulling yourself up by your bootstraps? That’s what we’ve done. It’s how we’ve become the success that we are. Generations of Americans have worked long hours, and saved pennies, and done without until they could afford things. What’s wrong with applying that same concept in other places?
At the grocery store where I shop, there are men who hold up signs saying that they will work for food. A man who shops when I shop, will invite them to come in with him, and then he buys them meals and juice or milk. He does this to be sure that the money he gives is used for food, and not siphoned away for drugs or alcohol. This is generosity that I can understand.
With countries, I’d like to see us send food or medicine or technology, rather than cash. I realize that some places are in such dire straits that they need help to feed their people, but once the populace is stabilized, we need to assist them in ways that will make them independent. We don’t need to collect satellites; we need to create partners in a healthy economy.
Or, and this is a thought…..we might keep the money and start taking care of our own problems. We could see to it that students in poor school districts received a quality education, or we could subsidize more college education. We could provide basic health insurance for those who currently have no coverage. We could provide temporary shelter for the indigent, or create training programs for those on welfare. We could even recreate a Works Progress Authority to rebuild our deteriorating infrastructure. We would create jobs, train people, and improve our situation.
I suppose that those who are involved with politics or government will have dozens of reasons why we can’t do this, but I think that they are geared to the status quo and are unwilling to see that we have other options. We need fresh thinking in our government, and some new direction, and I hope we can bring about a better reputation for our country, too.
I don’t have the answers, but I can see the need for change.
