Unless you’ve been on an interstellar journey, you know that Ukraine has been at war with Russia for quite some time now.
And for some reason, which escapes me, our genius political class here in the U.S. has decided to be the major benefactor of the Ukrainian defense effort against the evil Putin.
I believe our federal “public servants” have pledged/donated upwards of $53 billion to the cause thus far.
Times like these I kind of almost wish we were what most Americans claim we are – a democracy. If we were, maybe we would get to vote on how much graft to continue sending overseas, with no oversight and accountability whatsoever. I vote zero dollars.
On July 4, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal announced at an international conference that the cost for the recovery/rebuild of his country “is already estimated at $750 billion.” That’s almost 25 times greater than the entire Ukrainian GDP – about $31 billion.
And just like an American leftist/socialist, who doesn’t think it’s his or her responsibility to pay the tab for most anything, the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, proclaimed to the conference-goers: “Reconstruction of Ukraine is not a local task of a single nation. It is a common task of the whole democratic world. Reconstruction of Ukraine is the biggest contribution to the support of global peace.”
Wowser! That’s quite the bold statement to accompany a hefty price tag. Heck, rebuilding the whole of Europe after World War II, in today’s dollars adjusted for inflation, was only $182 billion.
Isn’t it time to stop bankrolling the rest of the globe? We are the best, most generous people on Earth, but this has to stop.
And we also can’t be the world’s police force. But we’ve effectively become just that, with our foolish foreign entanglements, the league of Nations, the United Nations and NATO, obligating us to defend everyone but ourselves.
I’m not saying we should withdrawal from the world stage. I’m just saying that the United States should heed the advice of America’s greatest president, and it’s first, George Washington, who just happened to know a little about conflict.
In his first State of the Union speech (it wasn’t called that then) to Congress in 1790, Washington said, “To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace.”
He then added: “A free people ought not only to be armed, but disciplined; to which end a uniform and well-digested plan is requisite; and their safety and interest require that they should promote such manufactories as tend to render them independent of others for essential, particularly military, supplies.”
In other words, show the world that America is prepared for all comers, so that none should try, and as a nation remain as self-sufficient as possible, particularly regarding production of military supplies. Don’t depend or rely on anyone for defense.
However, it was President Washington’s Farewell Address in 1796 that leaders of today, the body politic and our military should heed.
They won’t but they should.
“It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world,” Washington insisted. Writes Loren Thompson in Forbes: “He argued that interests leading to war among European powers ‘are essentially foreign to our concerns,’ and that America’s ‘detached and distant situation’ should enable it to avoid being dragged into overseas conflicts on either side.”
In other words, Washington knew that remaining neutral when it came to the conflicts of others was best for America. It still is.
Beyond this and even more important was Washington’s stance on nation friends and foes, stating:
“A passionate attachment of one nation for another produces a variety of evils. Sympathy for the favorite nation, facilitating the illusion of an imaginary common interest in cases where no real common interest exists, and infusing into one the enmities of the other, betrays the former into a participation in the quarrels and wars of the latter without adequate inducement or justification.”
Temporary alliances aside, Washington knew that when one nation is favored over another, passions will soon overcome reason and objectivity in dealing with both.
And this is exactly where we find ourselves – with a wholly created affinity for Ukraine. Everyone fly their blue and yellow flag in solidarity!
We have no dog in this fight, no real common interest with Ukraine. The American people have been talked into the development of a “passionate attachment” to Ukraine, which will not serve us well going forward.
Washington knew it. It’s high time we heed his words.
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