I am very pleased with the news which ran over the wires this morning.
The White House will not move forward with a multi-billion dollar proposal to cut foreign aid. Lawmakers from both parties objected to the plan, complaining that it would hurt foreign aid programs while also jeopardizing the massive budget deal reached in July.
This week I wrote about the need to preserve foreign aid funds in the budget. As we know from reading articles and news accounts from around the world too many populist leaders want to reduce foreign aid but also shift its purpose from helping the neediest abroad to more self-serving political and economic ends. Too often in these columns, we come to better understand the undermining of the multilateral system, and more to the point, the attempted destruction to the liberal internationalist thinking that underpins it.
We simply could not allow that to also take place with the current administration in Washington. I have argued before on this blog the United States has a duty, given our economic and international power, to use national altruism for justified ends. I have stated that in so doing we also serve our own national interests. It is a win, win.
I have viewed the fight for the Democratic presidential nomination through several lenses. One of them has been the determination to fight for foreign aid, and use it to marshal forward in the world. Only Joe Biden has given the full measure of what I desire in our next president when it comes to events on the world stage. He stated the following in June.
The next president must repair our relationships with our allies and stand up to strongmen and thugs on the global stage to rally the world to meet these challenges. We can reclaim our longstanding position as the moral and economic leader of the world.
The need for such determination and use of funds can be seen clearly with the need to stop Ebola in West Africa. Not only did the effort stop the loss of life, which could have impacted millions, but with such efforts blunted governmental conflicts, economic collapse, and a global health crisis.
That is just one example as to why the news today from the White House is a most positive one. We do not get to make such statements often these days in which we live. I am glad to be able not only to make such a statement but to have it made for something so very important.
CAFFEINATED POLITICS 