Liberty Maven

I ask my Congressman why he insists on giving taxpayer money to foreign nations while we are in foreign debt.

by Jake Towne, the Champion of the Constitution

Originally published on Tuesday, July 21, 2009 at http://www.nolanchart.com/article6649.html

“Equal and exact justice to all men, of whatever state or persuasion, religious or political; peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances with none.” – Thomas Jefferson, First Inaugural Address as President of the United States, 1801-1809

“If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy.” – James Madison

“I think Americans should have a policy of love. That should be the foreign policy, love. Export Love.” – Ziggy Marley

The following is a letter sent to my local Congressman today.  Although I happen to be running against him in the 2010 election, I am obviously writing as a concerned citizen.  I have sent this note to his office and also called his office to state my opinion, which was courteously received.

Dear Congressman Dent,

Several of your recent votes in the House were to approve massive amounts of foreign aid.

For example in June you voted to send Pakistan $6 Billion in nation-building expenditures to improve Pakistan’s public educational system and infrastructure from the ‘PEACE’ Act as part of the $10.6 Billion to expand the Pakistan War in the Republican version of H.R. 1886, the Pakistan Enduring Assistance and Cooperation Enhancement (PEACE) Act of 2009.

In July, you decided to vote for HR 3081, the 2010 foreign affairs budget. The text of this bill approved $48.8 Billion to operate the State Department and included the following:

• $2.2 Billion to finance the Israeli military
• $1.04 Billion to finance the Egyptian military
• $150 Million to finance the Jordan military (a Middle Eastern nation-state)
• $60 Million to finance the Colombian military
• $250 Million in “economic support” to Egypt of which at least $25 Million is to be spent on “democracy, human rights and governance programs in Egypt” and $25 Million on “education programs”.
• $11 Million to support “scholarships, administrative support of the scholarship program, bi-communal projects, and measures aimed at reunification of the island and designed to reduce tensions and promote peace and cooperation between the two communities” on the island and nation of Cyprus
• $363 Million for “economic support” of the Middle Eastern nation of Jordan
• $400.4 Million for “economic support” of the West Bank and Gaza
• $300 Million for “economic support” of Afghanistan
• $200.7 Million for “alternative development/institution building programs in Colombia”
• $18 Million “to the International Fund for Ireland”
• $722 Million in aid to either “Eastern Europe and the Baltic States” or “Independent States of the Former Soviet Union”
• $102 Million to support peacekeeping missions in Somalia
• $300 Million in military arms deals and economic aid with Haiti
• $1 Million to finance Guatemala’s Air Force, Navy and Army Corps of Engineers
• $3 Million to finance “International Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement” in Guatemala
• $83 Million to finance “International Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement,” and “Foreign Military Financing Program” in Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama
• $7.3 Million for “economic support” of Tibet (part of China)
• Undisclosed amount for “expanded international military education and training” in Angola, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Cote D’Ivoire, Guinea and Zimbabwe in Africa.
• Undisclosed amount for economic aid to Sudan
• Up to $20 Million to finance the Indonesian military
• $24 Million in economic aid to Burma and Thailand, with up to an additional $12 Million more for victims of Cyclone Nargis
• $7.8 Million to support International Broadcasting Operations’ into North Korea
• Up to $30 Million to finance the Philippine military
• $175 Million in “Assistance for Women and Girls” of Afghanistan
• $175 Million for the “National Solidarity Program” in Afghanistan
• $25 Million (each) for “conservation programs” in the Amazon River Basin and Congo Basin
• Up to $1 Million for de-mining civilian areas in Sri Lanka
• $120 Million for “the promotion of democracy globally”
• $1.7 Billion for “necessary expenses” to “meet annual obligations of membership in international multilateral organizations”
• An umbrella of $2.1 Billion for “international peacekeeping activities”
• $100 Million for the “National Endowment for Democracy” of which not less than $250,000 must be spent in Tibet
• $125 Million to for the “necessary expenses to establish, support, maintain, mobilize, and deploy a civilian response corps”
• $877 Million for “preserving, maintaining, repairing, and planning” of foreign buildings owned or leased by the US government, such as embassies
• $21 Million to the American Institute of Taiwan
• $19 Million to the Asia Foundation
• $734 Million for “international broadcasting activities” to Cuba and the Middle East
• $49 Million for the United States Institute of Peace
• $2.4 Billion for “global health and child survival”
• $5.4 Billion for “for the prevention, treatment, and control of, and research on, HIV/AIDS”
• $830 Million for “international disaster assistance”
• $2.5 Billion for “development assistance”
• Up to $236 Million to combat drug trafficking in Mexico

My point in listing the above is that you approve giving foreign aid to just about every country on the planet. Congressman Dent, these dollars that have been entrusted to you by the taxpayer. As Representative Davy Crockett once discovered, the funds are simply NOT YOURS TO GIVE to these foreign countries.

First, how will any American benefit from your decisions to give away our tax dollars, especially since so much went to arms sales? Secondly, since our nation is heavily in debt, what we are in fact doing is lending the money given to us by China, Japan, and Saudi Arabia in exchange for our paper US Treasuries.

Are we not wasting our time and treasure “nation-building” as former President George Bush stated during the 2000 election?

On June 19^th, the Morning Call featured you, a committee member on Transportation Committee, as proposing $63 million in road and bridge expenditures (and your pet hydrogen shuttle bus project) for the Lehigh Valley in a bill (yet to be introduced) to the House, the “Surface Transportation Reauthorization Act of 2009.” How do you rationalize giving away so much of our tax dollars to foreign countries while returning so little? I also wonder why, as a federal congressman, you’ve taken on this duty since this is the job of the state and local governments. Do you also realize that since all the necessary Post Roads in our state have long been established, per Article 1 of the U.S. Constitution you have no authority to do this in the first place?

Let me add that if I were Congressman, I would endeavor to recapture all of the tax money plundered by our now massive federal government from the citizens of the Lehigh Valley as well (though preferably straight back to our wallets!!), but I certainly would be labeled a hypocrite if I were found to approve foreign spending as you have. I do not see any logic in offering foreign aid when our nation has such a large foreign debt, and I do not believe this is in our best interest. Indeed, I would be hard-pressed to approve ANY grants of foreign aid while the unemployment rates in the Lehigh Valley are at 23-year highs with the official numbers, and at Great Depression rates if the more realistic but unofficial statistics are used.

So, can you defend your decision to award the above funds to foreign governments? If so, how did Congress (and yourself) decide on the specific amounts that were “necessary” to each foreign government?

Regarding our face-to-face meeting on July 6^th, I have yet to receive any response to my many unanswered letters I took care to personally hand to you. Again, if you have the time only to reply to one issue, PLEASE reply to me concerning your stance on monetary policy and the Federal Reserve. I remain highly concerned that by your approval of the Banker Bailout of 2008 and your inaction during the past five (5) years in Congress to make any effort to salvage the integrity of the nation’s currency, the dollar, you have played a role in the eventual and likely demise of our monetary system.

I have yet to receive any reply to the Open Letter addressed to you on July 7^th, 2009, in regards to your thoughts on sponsoring a bill that would require Congress to read the bills before voting to pass them.

I have yet to receive any reply to the Open Letter addressed to you on June 26th, 2009, in regards to your thoughts on sponsoring a bill that would require Congress to only pass bills that address just ‘One Subject at a Time.’

On June 4^th, I sent you a note concerning the constitutionality of using of taxpayer funds on the nation’s health care and asked a simple question in regards to HR 2516, the Medical Rights Act, a bill you co-signed. Could you please reply to this question?

On May 7^th, I sent you a note requesting your thoughts on the Federal Reserve (specifically whether you would support abolishing it, and if not, why) and our nation’s monetary policy. As requested above, could you please reply and inform me of your stance on the FED and monetary policy?

Sincerely and with all due respect, your fellow citizen,

Jake Towne

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Jake Towne is running for U.S. Congress in Pennsylvania’s 15th District in the 2010 election as a citizen unaffiliated with any political parties.  Jake also writes at www.LibertyMaven.com and www.CampaignForLiberty.com.  A master campaign presentation for internet viewing is available.  A novel campaign website built by Raging Debate, TowneForCongress.com has recently opened. [Reach the Author Here!]

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Summary of Articles and Bibliography for Jake Towne, the Champion of the Constitution (7/2/2009)