When a Nation Turns Inward
Split ... collapse ... death
Flickering images of television news stories from the 1980s about “Japan’s lost youth” remain in the back of my mind.
Like many things, the remembrance is fuzzy. The images I remember are of teens wearing black leather jackets, hanging on street corners and listening to …
Michael Jackson.
It was alarming to conventional Japan. Just 40 years after the end of World War II, how could these kids so openly adopt American “values?”
I bring that up because America had tremendous global influence. Of course, the surface example of Japanese teens loving Michael Jackson speaks to pop culture.
But there was much, much more to American influence in the world. America was in the freedom exporting business, whether directly or philosophically. The largely agreed-upon American ideal was that it had been blessed beyond measure and helping other countries made Americans feel good about themselves and benefitted everyone.
So, my idea today is that my interest is making America good again.
We have turned too inward and this will come to no good end. Companies that turn too inward collapse. Churches that turn too inward split in factions and/or die off. A country that turns too inward will eventually follow suit. In case you haven’t noticed, we’re already in the “split in factions” phase. Next, we will turn on each other. Following that, we will kill each other if we’re not taken over first by a foreign power.
Before I get into the deep weeds, this is an extremely nuanced conversation. Reading the words “freedom exporting business” will cause many to draw conclusions that I do not mean at all.
So, a few caveats:
(1) Exporting freedom does not mean creating new regimes in foreign countries. We’ve tried this a few times and it never seems to work.
(2) This is not an argument for (or against) Ukraine war aid.
(3) Exporting freedom does not mean the illegal importation of foreign culture into the United States. Yes, America is a melting pot. But America has a distinct culture and it was always the intent of the founders to allow those coming here to flavor the culture, not define it. There is a distinctly American culture that should be preserved SO THAT it can influence the world. Those that come here from other countries should only do so legally. Overwhelmingly, those that do come here legally are quite happy to assimilate into the American culture.
What I mean by exporting freedom is this: America should not abandon responsible, humanitarian aid simply because it has been discovered that much of it has been corrupted over time. When we do good elsewhere, we remind people of the difference between good and evil, and people see where the good originates.
It is good for others that America has the resources to bless those in distressed places. And it is good for America too.
The idea that has won out recently is that America must take care of itself and does not need to concern itself with foreign aid. They say there are simply too many issues here. They point to America’s $37 trillion debt. The monthly interest on our debt alone is around $30 billion.
Just over the past few months, DOGE efforts took a hard look at USAID funding and found a lot of ridiculousness. Just two weeks ago, a USAID official and others pleaded guilty to a decade-long bribery scheme involving $550 million in contracts.
At least one Congressman claimed millions in aid to several ideological foreign entities including country-specific LBGTQ and DEI efforts, including almost a half-million dollars to help an Indonesian coffee company become more climate and gender friendly.
At best, the hard look at USAID found that checks were being written without the least bit of accountability. At worst, we were giving away taxpayer money to entities that actively worked against American interests.
So, the combination of our country’s debt combined with the poor use of much of our foreign aid efforts have led us into isolationist territory. This is not good for us or the world.
And my point today is more about the sentiment of where we are right now than any specific foreign aid or lack thereof.
According to the latest numbers available, foreign aid is down 42 percent from 1986 based on percentage of the country’s budget allocated to foreign aid (.85 percent now compared to 1.47 percent in 1986).
There are a couple of things I believe about America that fuels my philosophy:
(1) We were divinely created. I believe God allowed America to exist for the good of His creation. It certainly does not mean we have always acted good or always have good interests at heart, but it can’t be argued that anyone else has done as much net good for the world in recorded history than America has done in 250 years.
(2) American influence has lifted hundreds of millions or more out of true poverty due to its willingness to use its influence responsibly.
The first argument that America has too many problems of its own and can’t concern itself with the rest of the world is a fallacy.
America is richer now than it was when more went to foreign aid. We don’t have an income problem. We have a spending problem.
We could easily save $100 billion or more from our budget with some common-sense but politically tricky moves.
Social Security is one of largest budget expenses. Simply encouraging private savings incentives through 401Ks or IRAs would start closing the solvency gap. Means testing for the highest of earners would save billions without harming anyone. It’s politically hot and those that paid in should receive, but start the ball rolling right now to change the trajectory. A simple tweak to how COLAs (Cost of Living Adjustments) are calculated would only cause about a .3 percent change but could save $10-15 billion annually. Combine these and save around $50 billion.
It’s also worth noting that government employees were not a part of Social Security initially due to their robust pension plans.
Defense is the largest line item on the budget, and you certainly can’t be cheap there. But we do fund a lot of stuff that is no longer tactically integral, most likely these ancient weapons are still being manufactured because they are made in districts where Congressmen fear losing their next election.
We could easily cut the bottom 10 percent of our defense budget. We could ditch older weapons systems, cut the procurement red tape and eliminate redundancies. One recent study indicated $60 billion could be saved just through improving efficiencies.
Assuming a savings of $100 billion, some $70 billion could be re-allocated to greater areas of need in the defense realm (cyber, AI, etc.) leaving $30 billion of savings.
Subsidies flow loosely in the farm aid arena. Megafarms often find ways to get reimbursed twice for perceived losses. There is more fraud in crop insurance than investigators can nail down. I’m sure a few billion could be saved without any hardship.
And of course there is welfare. At least some effort is being made to strengthen work requirements for those on government assistance. Again, understanding there is nuance in this argument, the general truth is that many are receiving assistance that do not need it.
A 2024 report asserts that the food stamp program cost taxpayers $135 billion in 2023. Benefit levels exceed inflation, and people are on assistance longer — much longer — than in years prior. It is reasonable to believe $10 billion could be cut from this program without impacting those truly in need.
Those are just a few programs highlighted to illustrate that the “we have too many problems of our own” argument doesn’t really hold water. We could save billions and place just a portion of that into responsible aid.
The second argument used to cut off foreign aid is that so much of it has been corrupted.
Of course this is true. We just simply must be better in the accountability area. Checks were being written without the slightest oversight.
Don’t give to shady NGOs (non-government organizations.) Place an American in charge of each allocation. Put him/her on the ground where the aid is going and keep receipts. If $10 million is being given to a third-world country to fight malaria or AIDs, paying someone $100,000 to be responsible for the money is a wise expenditure. If the receipts don’t add up after 6 months or a year, pull the rest of the funding and place it somewhere else.
It isn’t that difficult.
Why is this so important?
First, America — warts and all — is still the best and greatest hope for the world. If it slams the door on the rest of the world, the world will be worse for it and America won’t really be any better.
As I mentioned earlier, any entity that becomes too inwardly focused will eventually die. We will turn on ourselves and destroy ourselves. If you don’t see us on that trail, then you aren’t paying attention.
Second, if we don’t stand as the source of hope for the world, some country will stand in our place and it is already happening.
China is using direct foreign aid to curry favor with other countries. It is China that may get rare earth minerals or other resources of need from these countries before we do. Of course China’s “aid” is often high leverage loans, putting countries like Pakistan on the hook to China.
At other times, China is happy to build palatial estates for African rulers in exchange for favors down the road.
At some point, we are going to look out after looking inward for so long and find that we have no friends.
And if America can’t look after itself and help others in need at the same time, then it isn’t great at all.
I know that we don’t have to use taxpayer money to do good around the world. Americans continue to be, overwhelmingly, the most generous people in the world. We send disaster relief, we build wells, we send doctors, we start orphanages and we sponsor thousands of children in dozens of countries.
So yes, Americans do good. But there is something about doing good underneath the Great Seal of the United States of America. If we forget this, we forget our foundation and we’ve lost our identity.
And then, we’re just another country.
Thank you for reading. Below are a few posts you may be interested in reading:
What 20/20 Didn’t Tell You About the 1999 Beasley-Hawlett murders