By Timothy V. Gatto

From The Heritage Foundation, a Conservative Think-Tank:

“Abstract: Since 2000 about 95 percent of U.N. member states that receive U.S. assistance have voted against the United States most of the time in the U.N. General Assembly on non-consensus votes. The U.S. should inform aid recipients that their support--or lack of support--for U.S. priorities in the U.N. and other international organizations will directly affect future decisions on allocating U.S. assistance. In order to strengthen and broaden support for America's policies in the U.N., the U.S. should also seek to build coalitions of like-minded nations that are firmly committed to political and economic freedom. Over the long term, U.S. aid could facilitate the expansion of these coalitions by encouraging more countries to become freer, both politically and economically”.

So, without a doubt, this report “U.S. Foreign Aid Recipients and Voting at the United Nations” Published on April 6, 2010 by Brett Schaefer and Anthony Kim, foreign aid should be offered as a caveat for voting the way the United States wishes in the U.N. General Assembly. It is apparent that the Heritage Foundation believes that foreign aid should not be administered according to the need for it, but for supporting the United States at the U.N.

In order to clarify exactly what foreign aid is, and isn’t, we should no longer call it foreign aid or other descriptive phrases such as “humanitarian assistance” or any other noble-sounding tags. We should call it what it is, so that the American taxpayer can see exactly what we are attempting to do with their money and just call it “foreign bribery”.

Apparently there are those that wish to take off the pretense in which we conduct our business internationally. Some may see this as a thuggish way to present what had heretofore been a “noble” goal, to aid other nations that have not been as fortunate as the U.S. In reality, most people have known forever that it was never about any “human need” but what was best for the U.S. I guess that can be called the crux of “American Exceptionalism”.

Maybe it’s time we got out of the business of pretending to care about other nations. Some of the foreign aid recipients are; Russia; $56.1 million, Cuba; $20 million, Columbia; $200.7 million, Pakistan; $1.074 Billion and Afghanistan; $2.158 Billion. These figures don’t include USAID, Peace Corps and Bilateral Economic Assistance (whatever that is). http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/122513.pdf

I’m going to propose something that for a liberal is quite revolutionary. Let’s just try for one year, to stop all foreign aid. Maybe we could fix some infrastructure like our crumbling dams and levees, build some decent schools in inner cities, forget about cutting Medicare and Social Security or just send some bright kids to college. In just one year, we could actually pay our way out of this economic crisis.

By the way, don’t let any of this money wind up in the hands of the bankers or the Wall Street boys.

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By Timothy V. Gatto timgatto@hotmail.com Read Tim's Book "Complicity to Contempt" and his Novel "Kimchee Days or Stoned Cold Warriors From Oliver Arts and Open Press and available on Amazon and all other online bookstores.