THE F.A.R. PLAN: Foreign Aid Reform

Foreign Aid Reform

 

It is in the best interest of the American people to ensure that the government spend their money wisely and get the best possible value for each expenditure.  One valuable step in that direction is to reform how their tax dollars are distributed around the world. That is at the heart of the Foreign Aid Reform Plan.

Under the current system billions of dollars are allotted to most of the countries in the world to do with as they please with no accountability and no effort to see that the funds are used for the stated purpose. When questioned about the use of American aid dollars we are often met with “sovereignty” or “national security” stonewalls. That will no longer be the case.

Under the Foreign Aid Reform Plan there will be a detailed accounting for money received and tangible proof that the money was used for the requested purpose. If the American taxpayers sent 1.5 billion dollars to build a new highway, a new harbor or a new dam, these are the sorts of things that can be monitored and verified independent of government contact. These are the sorts of things that foreign aid was originally intended for: essentially, to improve the lives of friendly nations and enhance their abilities to grow economically, respond to emergencies and adequately defend their territory. Any other use must be shown to be in the interest of the United States as well as the people of the country receiving aid.

1. INITIAL STAGE

1. All foreign aid for the subsequent fiscal year is cancelled.
2. A very limited list of countries will be granted a waiver of effect for this Plan. That list can have as few as three names but no more than ten (10).
3. Those funds will not be restored. Instead they will be used for the purposes benefitting the people who earned it in the first place: infrastructure improvement, national defense, Social Security solvency.
4. Every country will have to submit a request for aid in writing for the following year. It is to be detailed in describing the use of funds, reportage for accounting, and progress from year to year.

WAIVER OF EFFECT

1. The most controversial part of this controversial bill is the granting of waivers and who will be on that list and who will decide. Simply put: the granting of waivers of effects will be predicated on those countries that have shown loyalty to and consistent support for the interests of the American people. (Countries such as Japan, Australia and Israel come to mind.)
2. The duration of waivers has not been determined at this time.
   
   

1. APPLICATION CONSIDERATIONS
    
   There are additional issues associated with the FAR Plan application. The relationship between America and the applicant nation is paramount. A nation that is consistently hostile to American interests and policies will not have a strong position from which to make a request. A nation routinely disrespectful of American culture and policies will likewise have difficulties in getting their “request” granted.
   Understand this is a request for money from the American workers. Every sovereign nation is entitled to operate in its own best interest. Every nation is entitled to hold any opinion or policy its laws and people permit. No nation is entitled to money from the citizens of the United States. Your problems are your problems. If we choose to help, we will, but no one can expect generosity from a neighbor who has suffered your abuse in the past.

1. FINAL CONSIDERATION
    
   Every nation must understand that America is also a sovereign entity and it is also a unique entity in that sovereign powers are invested in each American citizen. Since every citizen is a valuable part of the nation it follows that how nations treat those citizens within their borders is of interest to the United States. Fully twenty-five percent (25%) of any final request will be dependent on the Status of Americans Abroad Report filed by our State Department. This will include:

1. Issues of crime and official corruption affecting visiting tourist, workers abroad and ex-patriots dwelling on a ‘permanent’ basis within your borders and areas of control.
2. Treatment of those suspected of criminal offenses. The laws of the host country may be enforced as those nations see fit. However, access to prisoners by American officials is never to be denied, proper medical and nutritional needs are to be provided by the host nation or permitted through the State Department resources.
3. Even after conviction, access to prisoners is not to be denied and prisoners are to be treated humanely in the manner that nation expects its own citizens to be treated in American prisons.
4. An unsatisfactory rating from the United States government will automatically reduce any granted aid by 25%.

 

This is not an effort to exert undue pressure on the sovereign rights and independence of any nation. This is not an effort to influence policies of any nation. This is an effort to properly steward the wealth and goodwill of the American people. They are not under any obligation to fund those nations who mistreat them, who abuse them and do not agree with their policies and will expressed through Trade, Travel, Military Assistance and Personal Safety. It is in the interest of any nation choosing to request aid from the American people to ensure they are in their good graces. Otherwise, seek aid elsewhere.

This We Will Defend

Americans have no idea what their rights are and from whence they come. The most educated of the population will say our rights come from the Constitution. Few of them can tell you with any certainty what those rights are beyond “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” For the majority of Americans it is enough to say “I’m free.”

However, it is necessary to be clear what that freedom entails. I am free to swing my arms around but not in a space occupied by you. I am free to walk where I choose except where someone has locked the door on their property. Freedom is limited. No one has absolute freedom to act as they please when their actions impact another.

I am compelled to say that again because a large segment of the American population is apparently ignorant of those limits. The Occupy Wall Street crowd and their hundreds of spin-off groups have forgotten that individual freedom is limited by the freedom of others. The 1%, the top 10% or even the top 25% are not fodder for the lazy and indigent. People who work hard, build businesses, and employ their neighbors at a decent wage and pay taxes are “pursuing happiness” while enhancing life for others.

The protestors are mostly college-educated people who want to pursue happiness as well but at other people’s expense. History and civic responsibility are apparently no longer a part of college curricula. The crime of it all, they want to employ the power of an over-reaching government to take away the prosperity of others – all under the supposed guise of Constitutional rights.

I understand this about the Constitution - it is merely an old piece of paper. The Constitution does not give us the right of Religious freedom; neither does it ensure our liberties of any kind. Our history has shown that we only have those rights for which we are willing to stand. For without blood on the line, the Constitution is merely ink on the page.

In Boston, ordinary men stood and died facing overwhelming military superiority. In Valley Forge they stood shoeless in knee-deep snow. In France they waded ashore in the face of withering machinegun fire. And in Korea they drew the line against tyranny.

Americans have relied on the judicial system to define liberty for us. Lawyers in court have to tell us precisely how far our reach can be and just how much of our neighbor’s land we can cross before it is a crime. In the earlier days of the nation such limits were clear and easily defined. We did not need seven volumes of civic ordinances to tell us to respect our neighbors; we only needed one – the only volume most courts in the nation owned until the 20^th century.

“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor,” (Exodus 20:17 NIV). “‘Cursed is anyone who moves their neighbor’s boundary stone.’ Then all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’ ” (Deuteronomy 27:17). That was it; plain and simple – and intuitively clear without lawyers.

But it takes more than lawyers to mess up a great nation; it takes judges. Judges in many roles and in many robes all the way up to the Supreme Court do their part to keep law out of reach of citizens. Judges like Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg who no longer respects the Constitution even as it is her sacred duty to uphold the document crafted so long ago by men much wiser than her and tempered in blood through the ages. Justice Ginsburg does not see the relevance of a document written without consulting women. She missed the part about them each consulting God. They don’t teach that in Law School.

Nothing the protestors or the professional classes can do can destroy freedom. Legislators and jurists combined with the lazy and indigent cannot put an end to this noble experiment. It is the unconquerable will inside the American body that gives liberty, it is the willingness to face enemies abroad or at home that ensures freedom; even if that enemy is in the White House. No man can take from us that which we will not give. We only need decide to stand.

 

Justice Ginsburg photo courtesy of: http://womenshistory.about.com/od/lists/ig/Powerful-Women-of-the-Decade/Ruth-Bader-Ginsburg.htm

Michael Moore courtesy of his friends at www.CNN.com