I didn’t misstate you, I quoted the whole passage.
I agree that there are times when we need to act. I supported Iraq and Afghanistan. I even support military action against Iran. That isn’t very isolationist of me.
Do we need to be sending billions of dollars to Egypt and Israel? Should we rethink our process of dumping our excess food from agricultural subsidies on foreign markets? Do we need to give all that money to Columbians and manipulate them into fighting our drug war? What is the tangible return on any of these investments?
Could Israel survive on their own? Sure. And we could always help them out if attacked. We don’t need to give them billions in military aid. Make them buy what they want; our markets are open to them. Many people hate that we give them billions in military aid that they don’t need. What is the benefit to us?
Could Egyptian cotton farmers prosper if we stopped dumping cotton on world markets? Hell yeah they could. Do we need to keep sending them billions in aid? What is the benefit to us?
What has any of the Columbian money done for us?
Maybe if we cut all aid we could more easily see where aid is truly needed and most useful. Many of the aid cuts would help enhance both freedom and private markets. That is to say that our aid often works against freedom and private market forces.
I can’t make any sense of it. We need to just cut it off.
Well, you quoted the whole passage, but misstated me by implying I wrote of controlling governments, when I clearly wrote of controlling events. That is, indeed, a misstatement.
I can’t make any sense of it. We need to just cut it off.
I agree much of what we do makes little sense at times. But 'just cut it off' is not a solution. Recall the old saying "Throw the baby out with the bathwater"? How about "Cut your nose off to spite your face"? The old saws both apply. When something isn't working, a short-term solution always seems to be; just stop it and go on to something else. Well, that's not always the best solution. Sometimes we need to evaluate what's wrong and make the necessary corrections. The goal, and the approach aren't always wrong, or at odds with our interests; just misdirected.