Sensible isolationism

For failing to approve his $12 billion foreign aid package, President Clinton tagged the US Republicans with the “Isolationist” label. “They are saying America does not need to lead either by effort or example,” said Clinton. “They are saying we don’t need our friends or allies,” Clinton continued. “They are betting our children’s future on the reckless proposition that we can go it alone, that . . . we should bury our heads in the sand behind a wall.”

The Republicans, of course, are saying no such thing. They are merely saying that they refuse to compromise the US Social Security program for welfare handouts abroad.

But what they should really be saying, if they had any guts, is that they flat-out refuse to support foreign aid programs at all. They should say that they put the interests of Americans first. They should say that they have no political obligation whatsoever to give away American taxpayer money, expecting nothing in return–with no return on investment.

Remember that Clinton squandered billions of US taxpayer funds on Russia and Bosnia, feeding corruption, and doing absolutely nothing for the people the foreign aid was intended to help. Foreign aid almost never works. America could probably pour hundreds of billions of dollars into Africa and still reap no prosperous results.

American foreign aid rarely ever helps. It only robs the hard-working American taxpayer of his income and makes the bleeding-heart, liberal, Democrat humanitarians feel better about themselves for having “tried.”

Free market capitalism is the only sure way to create enduring wealth. If Mr. Clinton wants to help the poor of the world, let him completely embrace free trade. Let him shun the United Nations and the IMF. Let him abandon foreign aid altogether and unilaterally open borders for the free flow of goods and services. He might begin with Cuba, for example.

And while the President is at it, he might also keep the United States out of un-strategic foreign conflicts. We had no business in Kosovo. We had no business in East Timor. We had no business in Rwanda.

American Republicans aren’t isolationists; they are just prudent internationalists. Intervene as little as possible in world affairs–and then only when vital national interests are undeniably at stake.

Once again, the United States government has a duty and, indeed, a fiduciary responsibility to protect the rights and interests of its citizens. It does not, however, have a constitutional blank check to intervene anywhere and everywhere.

Power must be conserved. If used too often, it tends to dissipate.