The US government has played a critical role in expanding its foreign aid to other global nations. Despite the fact that the US has given direct support to many nation-states around the world, it is important to note that the US is one of the developed nations that deal with hunger and poverty problems. Also, the debt ceiling in the US has risen over the years to about $17 trillion because of US offering aid to other nations such as Israel, Egypt, Ethiopia and Nigeria among other nation-states (Eberstadt, 2009, p.116). Thus, the US should limit their involvement in foreign affairs because their national debt is on the rise and that their economy is weak compared to other developed nation-states.
The US government has championed foreign affairs for long with the aim of stopping terrorism in the global world. Given that global poverty takes part in promoting terrorism around the world thereby limiting national security, the US has been involved in supporting other nation-states that strive in ensuring that terrorist groups are kept at bay (Owusu, 2007, p.8). The US takes part in giving food aid to sub-Saharan countries in Africa that have been savaged by poverty due to environmental degradation. Thus, the US gives money to such government in order to fight war against poverty. Ironically, the US has poverty issues in that some Americans do not enjoy the basic human amenities. It is crucial to note that poverty is a relative term in that poverty across America is as a result of feeding on unhealthy food products that put one’s health on risk. For example, the US is fighting war against obesity that is caused by processed foods and fast foods in that the food is cheap but bad for the body (Eberstadt, 2009, p.118). Also, there are some homeless people in the US who hardly afford three meals in a day due to minimal income. Thus, the US should limit foreign affairs because some Americans are facing poverty each day without the government’s knowledge. The US government should ensure that all Americans can afford basic amenities rather than the government injecting all the funds to other foreign nation-states.
Given that foreign aid given to other nation-states is money from American tax-payers, the US should use that money to better the greater American society. However, the US has been the World super power for a number of years thereby, becoming the global police. For example, the US deploys its military across the globe where there might be clashes within the community (Gibler, 2012, p.1217). The US had deployed its military in countries such as Syria, Somalia, Uganda, and Burma among many other nation-states. The US takes part in helping the greater society deal with their national issues, which forms friendly ties with other countries. Though the US struggles to give foreign Aid to other nations by using American tax payer money, it causes a positive impact around the globe. However, it is crucial to note that the US should limit its involvement in foreign affairs because of its weak economy and that the US is not ordained to always intervene into a country’s community clash.
The US should limit its involvement with other nation states because foreign aid does not give a long term solution to the countries thereby, making the US spend more money on foreign aid each year. This means that the US does not gain anything from offering foreign aid to other nation states. It is crucial to note that as a result of a high debt ceiling in the US, the US government cut Medicare by $252 billion. Ironically, the US government cut US foreign Aid by $1 billion only (Eberstadt, 2009, p.145). This poses a paradox to the American people and future generation because of the budget deficit they will have to pay in future yet most of the debt is as a result of foreign policy within the government. The US government should be focusing on improving the lives of the American people prior to helping others in the global nation states. The funds provided to other nation states as forms of foreign nation will devastates future Americans because they are solely responsible for paying the national debt that has sky-rocketed over the years.
A number of US citizens work for wages that are under minimum or at minimum state wage. Most of these people cannot sustain their individual basic needs and end up being homeless. In major American cities, there are so many homeless people and about 2 million people living in dire poverty (Haugen, 2013, p.87). Thus, the American government needs to solve some of the issues at home prior to giving funds away to other foreign governments. Also, Americans struggle with employment because of the recent recession and their involvement in the Iraq war that drained most of the American funds. Thus, the US should limit their involvement in foreign policy because the funds given to other countries can be used to generate more jobs in the American economy and that the country will not drain in more national debts as a result of foreign aid.
Foreign aid is a crucial factor to the US government because it prioritizes in helping countries that have been hit by natural catastrophes like tornado, hurricanes, or earthquakes (Haugen, 2013, p.98). Given that foreign policy is not limited to humanitarian aid only in that funds can be provided to foreign nation states but the US government does not track where their funds are injected to by the foreign government. Thus, the US should limit its foreign aid to only humanitarian aid such as offering medical care and food among other things (Haugen, 2013, p.103). Through this limitation, the US government can track its funds in that some governments are too corrupt to use money given in the expected way. Thus, limiting foreign aid to humanitarian aid would be a fundamental thing to safeguarding the US from borrowing more money.
According to the American constitution, the US government should not use the American tax payers’ money to give foreign aid. This is contrary to what the US government has been doing over the years in that the government gives aid to various countries annually. The government taxes its citizens in order to gain money that would be used for improving things such as infrastructure, health care, schools, and national security among other things because the tax payers’ money should benefit the American people (Norris, 1997, p.27). Thus, the US government should not borrow money and spend most of it on foreign affairs because it strains the country’s economy. Also, the tax payers’ money is used to benefit another country at the expense of the middle class citizens who are taxed more in America.
The US should limit foreign aid because of the fact that the American government had declared war on the Iraqi people and that there was an economic boom that affected everyone. The US government should offer foreign aid when the country has enough money to spend on its own people and foreign aid (Johnson and Caruson, 2003, p.14). Also, the US government should focus on forming partnerships with other nations rather than giving monetary or military support. Given that most nation states that get foreign aid from the US vote against the US in the United Nations. For example, Egypt is the second largest recipient of foreign aid from the US, $2.2 billion, but votes against the US in the United Nations (Lancaster, 2009, p.808). This indicates that though the US offers foreign aid to other nations, it does not have a solid partnership with most nation-states around the globe. Thus, the US should not spend money on other countries if they are not US allies. Also, the US should not use foreign aid as a way of influencing other nations but can seek other forms of strategic partnerships to form ties with other global countries.
Given that the US borrows money from other nations in order to lend money to other countries in form of aid to reduce their national debt is ironical. The US gives funds to other nations yet; the government uses borrowed money from China. Thus, the US government succumbs into more debt while helping other nations pay off their debt from Bretton Wood institutions such as the World Bank and the IMF. Thus, the US government should stop engraving the lives of future generation because the national debt has to be settled one day. The US government should limit or stop offering foreign aid to other nations because the US is struggling economically (Gibler and Miller, 2012, p.1203).
In conclusion, it is evident that the US government should limit their foreign affairs because it is driving the US to a high debt ceiling that has to be paid in future by the American people. The debt ceiling in the US has risen over the years to about $17 trillion. Regardless of the debt ceiling, the US economy is crumbling because of economic recession and high national debt. Also, there are about 1.4 million people in America that live in poverty. Thus, the US should limit its foreign aid to humanitarian aid only and that the American constitution outlines that it is illegal for the US government to offer foreign aid with the tax payers’ money. Thus, the US should limit its foreign aid to only humanitarian aid such as offering medical care and food among other things.
References
Eberstadt, N. (2009). U.S. foreign aid policy: a critique (2nd ed.). New York: Foreign Policy Association.
Gibler, D. M., & Miller, S. V. (2012). Comparing the Foreign Aid Policies of Presidents Bush and Obama. Social Science Quarterly (Wiley-Blackwell), 93(5), 1202-1217. doi:10.1111/j.1540-6237.2012.00909.x
Haugen, D. M. (2013). Is foreign aid necessary?. Detroit, MI: Greenhaven Press.
Johnson, L. K., & Caruson, K. (2003). The seven sins of American foreign policy. PS, Political Science & Politics, 36(1), 5-10,3.
Lancaster, C. (2009). Sixty years of foreign aid: What have we learned? International Journal, 64(3), 799-810.
Norris, D. M. (1997). Fraud prevention in U.S. foreign aid grants. The Government Accountants Journal, 46(3), 24-29.
Owusu, F. Y. (2007). Post-9/11 U.S. foreign aid, the millennium challenge account, and Africa: How many birds can one stone kill? Africa Today, 54(1), 2-26.
