I usually agree with Mike Rogers, and always enjoy reading him, but his comments on America's foreign aid "contributions" have me confused. Mr. Rogers' post could be interpreted as justifying US foreign aid on the grounds that other countries also send money overseas, sometimes as a result of bullying by the United States. Of course, the US should not bully other nations into stealing money from their citizens to support foreign aid or any other government program or policy.
However, the fact is the United States "contributes" more in foreign aid than any other nation (in 2003 the US spent $37.8 billion of taxpayer money on foreign aid, the country with the next largest foreign aid budget was the Netherlands, which spent $12.2 billion.)
Support for large American foreign aid programs stems from the same "America is the indispensable nation with the right and the duty to correct the rest of the world's ills" that underlays the crusade for global democracy.
Finally, as Davy Crockett explains, forced transfers of resources from American taxpayers to victims of natural disasters are not compassionate, but immoral and unconstitutional.
Thanks to Bruce Bartlett for the figures on how much the US spends on foreign aid.
