Posted on 11/03/2023 5:16:25 PM PDT by RandFan
The current debate over another aid package to Ukraine and a new one for Israel are exposing the deep ideological problems with both parties and the reason Congress is so unpopular.
Americans have long memories. They recall that the initial popularity of our engagements in Afghanistan and Iraq, and also how both ended with ugly withdrawals. Republicans in particular remember how badly their saber-rattling over Iraq came back to haunt them politically just a few years later.
Voters don’t want to see a repeat of Americans getting drawn into a foreign war while completely ignoring a bigger national security threat – our exploding national debt.
This past year, Congress racked up a $2 trillion deficit. Our national debt in total is about $34 trillion. That is a staggering amount of debt being carried by all American families, reflected in policies put out by the Federal Reserve that impose a hidden inflation tax. Congress is unpopular precisely because it refuses to address the debt crisis.
The idea that our debt problems should be one consideration when writing tens of billions in checks to Ukraine and Israel to defend themselves is an important one, yet there is resistance by Democrats to cut even one cent of spending to offset new aid packages. The new Speaker, Mike Johnson (R-La.), is right to find offsets for new spending.
But that is only one side of the equation. The other is the increased likelihood that the U.S. will be drawn into a more direct role in our proxy war in Ukraine against Russia, and perhaps even into the war in Israel. As horrifying as the Russian invasion of Ukraine has been, and as inexcusable as the Hamas massacre of civilians was that touched off the conflict in Israel, a direct role in either of these conflicts would be deeply imprudent.
Incredibly, out of 435 members of the House, it seems that only one represents what average American voters are thinking. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) recently declared on X, “If Congress sends $14.5 billion to Israel, on average we’ll be taking about $100 from every working person in the United States. This will be extracted through inflation and taxes.”
Massie’s position is not motivated by the feverish hatred for Israel that members of the left-wing “Squad” display. It is a valid argument that borrowing more money to send off to another nation will result in more debt for average Americans and might even exacerbate our inflation problem.
There was a recent vote in the House on H.Res. 771, to stand with Israel during this time of conflict. On it’s face, it sounds like an easy vote, yet there is a worry that this resolution may be used in the future as a justification for more direct involvement by the U.S. in the war. There are some fine consensus clauses in the resolution, including the idea that Americans “mourns the over 900 Israelis and 11 Americans killed and over 2,600 others wounded in Hamas’ unprovoked attack on Israel.” Yet the resolution was also loaded with calls for sanctions, foreign aid commitments, and a promise of future military support that may be interpreted to rubber-stamp boots on the ground.
The resolution may have the impact of broadening the conflict from where it is now to a larger swath of the Middle East. If this resolution is used by those who support war as a pretext to start a new conflict with Iran, Americans will be seeing our nation go right down the same dangerous and unpopular road we followed into Afghanistan and Iraq.
The Biden Administration has taken the odd position that it will veto an aid package to Israel, because Speaker Johnson has tied the aid package to a $80 billion cut for the Internal Revenue Service to hire more tax collectors. As Scott McKay put it, this puts Democrats in the bizarre position of being “devoted to the federal government’s perpetual expansion at the expense of every other consideration.” Biden’s absurd position also completely undercuts any argument that this aid is urgent. If he can threaten to veto it, then evidently there’s no hurry.
The average voter’s position on this issue is not especially complicated. People want to see Washington stop inching us closer to a new war while also spending hundreds of billions we don’t have. This debate has exposed some serious dysfunction in Congress emanating from both parties.
Brian Darling is former Counsel for Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.).
Please Freepers, read it...
Ping
What “both” parties?
I don’t give a damn about Ukraine. I’ve been consistent about this from the very beginning of the war. There are no American interests in Ukraine. On the other hand, I am very pro-Israel. They are a valuable ally and partner. However, I have not heard a single member of Congress say Israel is just as capable of making their children debt slaves as we are. There is zero reason why Israel cannot borrow or print money to pay for their war effort. Exactly why is our first reaction to every crisis is to borrow or print money?
I got ahead of myself. Perhaps I’ve been conditioned to write about what Congress has been doing instead of what they are not doing. So let’s rewind for a moment. The first thing that should have been passed by the House after electing a new Speaker should have been a comprehensive border protection and immigrant deportation bill; one that gives zero wiggle room to the Biden Administration to facilitate the mass invasion of America.
Congress doesn’t have the correct priorities. The priorities are:
1.) America First - Border Security and Mass Deportation
2.) America First - Complete Appropriation Bills with Massive Shuttering and Budget Cuts
3.) America First - Fix and Dewokification of our Military Bill with the closure of many of the 300 U.S. military bases around the world. Return our troops home and defend America, particularly our border. That’s exactly the reason why we have a military.
No bills are required for Ukraine or Israel. Our government can use existing resources to eliminate the red tape standing in the way for Israel to purchase weapons and munitions using their own money.
As for Ukraine, eff them. I don’t give a damn. Not a dime or a bit of attention to any kleptocracy.
https://twitter.com/USAmbKyiv/status/1720414482399175020
This could be a problem.
No thanks Mr. Johnson. Put American problems first.
We are tired of all this foreign intervention and open borders.
Your number 1 should be number 1 by miles.
We will have no allies or interests in the future because there won’t be a “we” anymore, but “them”.
Thanks for the PING.
Will read later, cubicle bound for now.
I think the GOP get the message on Ukraine.
There will be a fight over that ...
I’m also impressed they’re making cuts elsewhere for the extra Israel aid.
Will they stick to it?
Biden’s absurd position-—that he will veto any aid package to Israel-—completely undercuts
any argument that Israeli aid is “urgent”... Biden threatening a veto means there’s no big hurry.
I would like to give them benefit of the doubt. But I can’t.
Somebody needs to explain why it is Biden and Congress’ first reaction to every
crisis is to borrow or print money that generations not yet born get saddled with.
The US’ mounting debt problems are ignored while taxpayers are continually forced
to underwrite tens of billions of tax dollars to Ukraine and Israel to defend themselves.
“Brian Darling is former Counsel for Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.).”
This line above says it all. Ron and his chip off the block son Rand Paul are not now nor ever have been friends of Israel. Old man Paul is an anti-Semite from way back when, and his son veils his comments and cloaks it better, but he is one too. He had a life-time of being indoctrinated by his dad and the acorn doesn’t fall far from the tree.
Israel isn’t a one-off just another nation. There has been a special relationship between our 2 countries since Israel’s inception, and the U.S. until now, has been a safe haven for Jews. Israel reciprocates by being our eyes, ears, and by providing intelligence regarding the whole Middle East that has always been a powder keg.
Being an incredibly smart people in general, they have contributed to our economic and physical well being for years. Jonas Salk discovered the polio vaccine that pretty much eliminated that plague entirely in most countries, as an example. Jews have been here since our nation’s founding. They have our back and we always have had theirs; that is until this recent attack against Israel that Biden is already backing down in his Admin’s support of them.
Lest your forget, after WWII and the Holocaust that wiped out so many Jews, no one wanted to take them in as refugees in the West, and hence the U.K. ruled by mandate first until the State of Israel was formed with the Truman Admin’s approval, and the Jews were back in the home territory where they had a presence for thousands of years.
There never was a state of Palestine; that was a term used to describe Jews, not Arabs. The Ottoman TUrks ruled that land until they were kicked out. Nomads wandered through that area, but there was no Pali presence as there were no named Pali’s at all until Arafat made the idea of a Pali State palatable as a political tool.
We have never had such a relationship with Ukraine; none at all other than everyone knowing it was a recent in history and very corrupt state that was once a part of the Soviet Union for a long time and historically Kiev was the seat of the original Russian Empire.
The Russians have the long historical relationship with Ukraine. The U.S. has a long historical relationship with Israel. These are not morally equivalent wars. The U.S. never interfered when Chechnya was taken over by the USSR. We never sent troops to save them from takeover by the Russians, even when their land was decimated by Russia who basically took over control of their country. So what’s the involvement with Ukraine that was once part of the USSR. As to Crimea it too was Russian (is inhabited by mostly Russian speaking people) until Nikita Khruschev gave it as a gift to Ukraine one day without any input from the Russian people; he just gave it away to Ukraine.
Bottom line, out of Judaism came Christianity; Christ was a Jew. Religion, cultural ties, economical ties, military intelligence ties, and having ties with the only democracy that exists in the Middle East where Muslim dictatorships rule, make our relationship with Israel a valuable one whereas we have no dog in the Ukraine/Russia border wars that have gone on for years.
This article is just another Ron/Rand Paul anti-Israel (Jews) tome that they cover up in terms of economics to hide their true intention that is not pure. The Rands don’t like Jews; never have.
The money is coming from the Irs budget, I love Speaker Johnson.😃
The IRS loses it’s funding and Israel gets it. Win, win.
The money comes from the IRS, which shouldn’t even exist.
Tax dollars w/ a different label are still tax dollars.
Bull. Slicing out the Irs budget is always good. Speaker Johnson thinks on his feet.
“The IRS loses it’s funding and Israel gets it. Win, win.”
Is still money we had to borrow which I reject.
Moslems are America’s enemy, we should eliminate all of them from our country and leave them to starve in their schiit hole home countries. “Palestine” is not a race, never has been, and never will be.
They are the dregs of the middle east and they had better learn to re-assimilate into the society’s they came from.
I support Israel but only with weapons eg Jobs program for Americans.
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