And for contrast, the Borgen Project tosses in
Department of Defense figures on appropriations and weapons programs
totaling $416 billion. In addition, their web site is littered with
quotes from American military figures claiming how money spent on
war could have already solved the world’s problems.
The implication is obvious.
Out of the hundreds of billions of dollars
spent each year on Defense, $19 billion is chump change compared to
ending world hunger and other pressing global issues.
And the inference is equally obvious. The
United States must be a selfish country because world problems such
as nuclear disarmament can easily be wiped out with the stroke of a
pen if only there was the impetus to do so.
The compare and contrast from the Borgen
Project suggests that even selecting only one pressing world problem
such as eliminating starvation can be solved from monies allocated
to our massive defense budget.
Let's be honest and put all the fancy
wordsmithing aside. This "unprecedented budget" that the Borgen
Project wants to tap into is your wallet. This resource does not
come from some vault of leftover money that is gathering dust but
rather from the U.S. taxpayer. This organization isn't the first outfit that
wants to rearrange the United States budget to solve the world's
problems. Plenty of groups have already shaken the ultimate money
tree known as the American taxpayer.
But what is disingenuous about
the Borgen Project is that by comparing and contrasting the Defense
appropriations to ending global problems, the tacit assertion is
made that our military is sucking up all of our nation's resources
that could otherwise be spent on more egalitarian ends. And by only attacking the Defense budget, the Borgen Project implies that money spent for Defense is the sole
source of waste in our government. That is a false assertion.
Conservative and even liberal ideologies
profusely acknowledge that waste is rampant in all levels of
government, not only by the Department of Defense. In some cases,
fraud and deception is actually legal especially when it comes to
municipal and state governments attempting to acquire federal money.
The Department of Defense does not own exclusive rights to waste and
mismanagement when other bureaucracies are scrutinized. There are
plenty of other governmental agencies that have first dibs on
wasting money.
Unfortunately, by making untruthful and
outright dishonest innuendoes about the defense budget squandering the
nation's resources, the Borgen Project immediately limits itself to
an audience who loathes the military. Huge constituencies of both
parties have served in our armed forces. Congress is filled with
veterans who have served with valor from both sides of the
ideological spectrum.
The proclivities of certain high profile
extreme elements of the leadership of the Democratic Party gives the
illusion to the adherents of the Borgen Project that they actually
have access to a very large sympathetic audience. Nothing could be
further from the truth. There are plenty of Democrats who have
either honorably served in the military or have plenty of friends or
relatives who are currently in or have been in the service. To them,
the military is not a cesspool of shame but rather a source of
pride.
Granted, many constituents of the Democratic
Party may have more of an openness than Republicans to listen to
what the Borgen Project has to say but the unflattering way our
armed forces is depicted by them will not go very far.
And although many Democratic leaders do engage
in such inflammatory rhetoric, what they practice is totally
different than what they preach. With rare exceptions (like John
Kerry), Democrats will fight to save Defense dollars especially when
it is in their own district which the Borgen Project recognizes.
As a result, the first mistake of the Borgen
Project is that they have in effect limited themselves to a
membership of groups of malevolent radicals who loathe the military
instead of attempting to appeal to a huge mainstream segment of the
population. Overall, there really is a very large audience of
discerning people who are authentically interested in resolving many
of the world’s most pressing problems. They are conservative as well
as liberal but they are also interested in practical methods that
does not demean or defame their country.
The next mistake of the Borgen Project is that
they engage in a form of historical amnesia.
Our defense budget didn't mushroom to this
size by chance. In fact, by the turn of the twentieth century,
America was very much an isolationist country with pacifist
tendencies. In the previous century, Europe had been unceasingly
wracked by inconclusive wars that made the United States rather
reluctant to enter into World War I.
The failure of the Versailles Treaty made many
Americans more wary of getting involved in another European
conflict.
However, World War II did pull isolationist
America back into war and it did create a massive war machine that
defeated tyrannical and oppressive regimes. But the threat to
freedom never ended at the last days of World War II. America never
did return to its isolationist inclination because the Cold War
immediately took shape. This country maintained its massive defense
budget in response to the growing menace of the Soviet Union.
This historical amnesia never seems to come to
play in the minds that loathe the United States and its military.
The next assumption is equally as disingenuous
as it is duplicitous. Suppose that one day, an administration,
regardless of party affiliation decided to write out a check for 19
billion dollars drawn from our treasury and then disbursed the
proceeds directly to the countries in which famine is present.
Can the leaders of governments, whose
countries are being ravaged by starvation, actually distribute such
massive aid in an equitable manner?
Or at least in a way that NGOs
(non-governmental organizations) would be capable to distribute such
aid.
In other words, these governmental leaders
whose countries are experiencing famine would have to be sane
rational individuals who are truly interested in the overall welfare
of their citizenry. And such leaders would have to exist in every
country in which appalling starvation conditions exist.
The stark reality is that a number of
governmental leaders of impoverished counties care more about their
own well being and their grip to power than the good of their
people.
For instance, Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe has
greatly restricted and impeded the activities of relief agencies in
his famine-threatened country. In fact, he even claims that hunger
and malnutrition does not exist in Zimbabwe. What was once the
breadbasket of Africa is now teetering on the brink of starvation.
Does Robert Mugabe care about his people? Not
really.
Can the Borgen Project actually sit down with
the Mugabe government and discuss a logical plan to distribute food
to his starving people?
Quite a few relief agencies with decades of
experience have already tried but have met with little success and
the Borgen Project would not do much better even if it had a
suitcase full of cash. The Mugabe government would be happy to take
money and relief supplies but their regime has consistently shown
that they will only distribute aid to members of their own political
party and its sympathizers. People who don’t conform to the
government’s ideology will continue to go on starving.
Is Robert Mugabe any different than any other
totalitarian governments?
With cash in hand and relief supplies in tow,
oppressive authoritarian regimes have historically thwarted efforts
to feed its own starving people. And all the noble intentions of the
Borgen Project is not going to change that.
In addition, even educated leaders of
democracies succumb to irrational policies.
Thabo Mbeki, President of South Africa as well
as many members of the African National Congress (ANC) subscribe to
the conspiracy theory that the CIA created AIDS to destroy
undesirable segments of the human race. Mbeki's government thwarted
efforts to treat infected citizens with lifesaving medications
because of the belief that white-owned drug companies were
experimenting on Africans.
Although educated in England, Mbeki is a
devoted communist who trained extensively in the former Soviet
Union. He, as well as many others in the ANC, views the West with
great suspicion and mistrust. For many governmental leaders,
ideology will always come before the wellbeing of their own people.
And again the Borgen Project and others like it are not going to
change that kind of mentality. Quite a few experienced people have
already tried.
Fortunately for South Africa, after a mammoth
global public outcry, the government did finally relent and allow
life saving treatments to be distributed to their dying people but
they are still suspicious of western democracies and assistance.
The leaders of many of these impoverished
countries are not exactly sensible and sound people who can be dealt
with in an intelligent and reasonable manner. In fact, many
countries would not be in poverty in the first place if it were not
for their corrupt leadership and mismanaged bureaucracies.
Countries like Mexico, Venezuela, Angola,
Nigeria, and plenty of others have vast natural resources such as
oil but the peoples of these nations rarely reap any benefits of
such wealth because of fraudulent leaders and inept governments.
Quite a few corrupt politicians and dictators
have already squandered enormous sums of wealth from their natural
resources.
Handing out more money to these inane
governments is not going to solve their problems.
The next mistake for the Borgen Project and
other similar organizations is that they refuse to acknowledge that
a lot of our tax dollars have already been spent to eradicate such
miseries as hunger and disease. And a number of dramatic successes
have already occurred on a huge global scale.
America has fed the hungry, clothed the naked,
and helped heal the sick.
America has already spent a lot of our tax
dollars to alleviate human suffering and there are plenty of
accomplishments that this country should be proud of even though
these triumphs are rarely if ever highlighted by poverty warriors
such as the Borgen Project.
The sad fact is that many foreign governments
are consumed with a lust for greed and selfishness that produces a
sheer disregard for the welfare of their own people. And no amount
of money can change that regardless of how well intentioned it is.
America is a generous nation that has done lots of good. And it
has the freedom to admit its own mistakes and a democratically
elected government that allows the opportunities to correct its own
errors.
Instead of making Americans feel uncomfortable
with their generosity, these corrupt and misguided regimes ought to
be ones under the microscope squirming in the hot seat; not us.
Instead of shaming the United States with
purported moral faults such as greed and selfishness, the Borgen
Project and other similar organizations ought to devote their
energies to shaming the crooked leaders of these impoverished
nations. The real enemy to many of the world’s pressing problems is
not the United States, but the dark side of human nature.
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