The Great Failure

“’Aid’ has in many places actually destroyed the possibility for sustained economic growth by driving local producers, especially farmers, out of business” says David Osterfeld, professor of political science at St. Joseph's College. When the United States sends over shiploads of produce like corn, rice, and carrots, they harm much more than they help. Imagine you are a hard-working farmer growing and raising produce to sell in order to support your family. Now imagine gargantuan cargo ships floating into dock, carrying thousands of times more food than you have grown. They then distribute the food they have brought among the people of the country, for free. There is no longer a need to buy your food and as a result you are sent into deeper poverty and possibly death. In the 1950s and ‘60s the United States dumped massive amounts of wheat within the country of India causing widespread bankruptcy of farmers and disruption of India’s agricultural market.  As you can see the United States’ intention to help, is actually harming.

Where does the U.S.A., who is in $10 T of debt according to the national debt clock, find money for foreign aid? The answer is the income of the citizens of the United States. About 3-5% of the tax money the US government collects is used for foreign aid, which translates to just under $30 B. That’s a lot of money. Now, Article one, section 8 of the United States Constitution states that “The congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes…to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States…”  Now think about this, is foreign aid debt? No. Is foreign aid common defense? No. Is foreign aid general welfare? No.  Nowhere in the constitution does it say that the tax money collected annually from U.S. citizens is allowed to be used for foreign aid. So, in addition to aid not helping or working, it is illegal! That’s right, foreign aid, paid for by tax money, is illegal. Many respected people realize this fact, such as Ron Paul, Republican member of Congress, David Osterfeld, Edward Luttwak, senior associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and Marian Tupy, a policy analyst at the CATO Institute.

   Benjamin Franklin once said that any country who gives up liberty for security is worthy of neither. I hope that is this little slice of the debate against foreign aid, has been able to show you that the US is doing exactly what Mr. Franklin said so long ago. By giving foreign aid in hope for security in alliance, weapons, and knowledge, we are losing the liberty our nation was built and designed upon. All in all, not only is foreign aid harmful to the recipients, but it is harmful to the giver, and harmful to the provider.  The United States, whether blindly or knowingly, is destroying the hopes of growth of developing countries and, ultimately, destroying itself; If by sending buckets of food that farmers are sweating and bleeding to grow and sell, or funding wicked radicals waiting to blow nations out of the water, or by simply sending tax payers dollars to foreign countries, fracturing the law set down by the Founding Fathers so long ago. Why?