Picking and Choosing

For every action there are opposite reactions

In today's paper of record for those of us in the Washington DC area (eg the Washington Post) there is an article on how the US Government, through the Agency for International Development, is funding the Palestine Liberation Authority over its competitor (Hamas) in the current Palestine elections. This is an example of an interventionalist foreign policy, the kind that creates enemies against the people funding this type of thing (eg the taxpayer eg you and me). By interfering in the internal political affairs of other countries our government creates resentment. This resentment then gets acted upon, be it through violence by extremists or negative goodwill by the less violent.

The USA was founded upon the principles of non-interventionalism and it is a shame that we have veared from this more peaceful path. As has been shown many times, today's friend can become tommorrow's enemy, especially when the money stops flowing through the change of direction in political winds. Let people choose privately if they want to help others abroad, voluntarily.