By: David Heacock
As a participant in C4L’s intern program, I am privileged to be able to take part in the fight for liberty in Washington while also being able to attend some unique events. One thing I’m really looking forward to is hearing Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) speak this week at the Heritage Foundation on “Restoring the Founders’ Vision of Foreign Policy.”
Last week, Paul spoke on the Senate floor in regards to foreign aid spending to Egypt. He stated: “I think it’s a grave mistake to send F-16’s and Abrams tanks to a country that, last year, detained American citizens on trumped-up political charges. To a country that, currently, is still detaining Egyptian citizens on trumped-up political charges. I think it’s a blunder of the first proportion to send sophisticated weapons to a country that allowed a mob to attack our embassy and to burn our flag. I find it objectionable to send weapons, F-16’s and tanks, to a country that allowed a mob, chanting ‘death to America,’ to threaten our American diplomats.”
In opposition to Paul’s statement, Senator John McCain (R-AZ) argued that denying these jets and tanks would be a disfavor toward U.S. weapons manufacturers and a broken obligation to the Egyptian government. I would challenge Senator McCain to read George Washington’s Farewell Address, giving special attention to these lines:
“The great rule of conduct for us in regard to foreign nations is in extending our commercial relations, to have with them as little political connection as possible…
There can be no greater error than to expect or calculate upon real favors from nation to nation. It is an illusion, which experience must cure, which a just pride ought to discard.”
The Founding Fathers would, undoubtedly, be in opposition to the United States’ current approach to foreign relations - supplying other nations with over 50 billion dollars a year. They also would object to treating the national defense budget as a “jobs” program. It makes no more economic sense to throw taxpayer dollars at the military-industrial complex then it does to throw those dollars at Solyndra. It is in the best interest of both Americans, and people around the world, to cease foreign aid because it keeps corrupt governments in rule, and rarely leads to mutually beneficial relationships.
I’m looking forward to hearing how Senator Paul plans to transition U.S. foreign policy toward one more in line with that of the Founding Fathers. We can no longer afford this unsustainable use of resources, nor can we justify, anymore, the limited effectiveness foreign aid has had on establishing peace. All foreign aid should be given voluntarily and charitably by the American people - not, as C4L Chairman Ron Paul has stated in the past, taken from the poor in this country and given to the rich in another country.
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PDFTags: Rand Paul, Foreign Policy, Foreign Aid, Founding Fathers, George Washington, John McCain