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CUT IT? Conservatives’/Libertarians’ Foreign Aid Dilemma

America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves. – Abraham Lincoln

I love America. We are the most prosperous, beautiful, safe, tolerant, benevolent, and charitable nation to have existed. For a host of reasons, large and small, serious and silly, overall the world is better because we’re here. We should be proud of what we’ve accomplished in our historically short life, and we should be hopeful for a bright future.
About that…

As we approach the next presidential election, and of course we’ve already enjoyed the Me-Too and Let’s -Try-This-Again campaigns getting off to a mouse-roaring start (I’m intentionally not naming them), one topic most libertarians and a good chunk of conservatives take on is foreign aid.

At first pass, taking a position on foreign aid seems straightforward. In the form of cash, loans, products, or services, aid is ostensibly intended to help a nation with its — and by extension our — security, economy, or humanitarian cause. In the best of worlds, we should only give money to countries we like and that like us back. Life is fair, right?

Hard liners are usually against foreign aid of any kind or degree, and I understand this position. The US is so deep in debt, both in fiscal operating budget ($17 trillion) and unfunded liabilities ($100+ trillion), that for us to be charitable seems nonsensical or even moronic, especially when charitable to a nation that hates us. But the fact is foreign aid, according to ForeignAssistance.gov represents about 1% of our operating budget every year. Money is money, however, and a good chunk of that $1 trillion could go elsewhere. We should evaluate what we give and to whom, and be ready with the cleaver, but we must acknowledge that withholding all foreign aid from everyone will carry with it a price we would not want to pay.

Reports from a few years ago indicate our top five aid recipients include Egypt, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Israel. Would you be interested to know that 2015 is looking to be the breakout year for our largest and most evil enemy, who will receive over four times what we typically give Israel?

Iran.

The other night Mark Levin spoke of a Washington Free Beacon article by Adam Kredo that shows American taxpayers and their multiple scions will hand over nearly $12 billion dollars in cash to the Iranians by June of this year.

Do we have any idea what we’re doing? Iran denies the Holocaust. These people call Israel Little Satan and us Big Satan. Any American finding himself crossing the border into Iran, even by accident, would most likely be jailed, tortured, and put to death — simply for being an American. Of freedom hating countries, Iran is #1.

My fellow Americans, as with the new Cuban disaster, for this $12 billion we get nothing in return. Nothing. This forced “investment” is just to keep these moral midgets at the negotiating table, with no strings attached to their behavior. Unmolested, the Iranians continue to push toward becoming a nuclear power and fund other terrorist groups (Iran is said to pay Hezbollah up to $200 million a year).

Certain Republican lawmakers like Mark Kirk (IL), Kelly Ayotte (NH), and John Cornyn (TX) tried to require Iran to prove they aren’t helping terrorist groups, but you can imagine how far their efforts went.

Lest you think Iran hasn’t hurt us yet, we have evidence Iran provided material support to al Qaeda before and after 9/11/01:

In Havlish, et al. v. bin La den, et al. , Judge Daniels held that the Islamic Republic of Iran, its Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Hosseini Khamenei, former Iranian president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, and Iran’s agencies and instrumentalities, including, among others, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (“IRGC”), the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence and Security (“MOIS”), and Iran’s terrorist proxy Hezbollah, all materially aided and supported al Qaeda before and after 9/11.

We aren’t just watching it from the stands, we are actively, financially, supporting our own destruction. If anything should give fire and spine to Boehner, McConnell, all Republicans, and even a few Democrats to cut off funding for all activity related to aiding Iran — including the possibility that 17% of the US government might not get their checks for a few weeks (i.e. shutdown) — this is it.

Say your prayers.

Image: http://theworstnamesinnews.blogspot.com/2012/02/world-on-brink-of-war-left-wing-media.html

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Michael Cummings

Michael A. Cummings has a Bachelors in Business Management from St. John's University in Collegeville, MN, and a Masters in Rhetoric & Composition from Northern Arizona University. He has worked as a department store Loss Prevention Officer, bank auditor, textbook store manager, Chinese food delivery man, and technology salesman. Cummings wrote position pieces for the 2010 Trevor Drown for US Senate (AR) and 2012 Joe Coors for Congress (CO) campaigns.

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