This Game is Out of Hand

This is getting ridiculous. I don't know a better way to put it. Democrats and Republicans are coming together to promote breaking the law, ridiculous. Where are the people? When did we start electing, funding and campaigning for complete imbeciles? (Awhile ago, obviously) What I'd like to direct your attention to is the Senate's idiotic vote on Rand Paul's Amendment 1739 today. The bill was tabled at a vote of 13-86. Now if you don't know what the amendment is you can go here for a broader scope of the amendment but I'll sum up the most important parts.

First off the amendment would force the government to begin following the laws of this country again. America has a law that prohibits the government from aiding a country that has had their "duly elected head of government deposed by a military coup" until a new head of government has been elected. However, Congress has yet to do anything about stopping military funding to Egypt. Rand Paul's amendment would cut that money (some 1.5 billion dollars in aid) from military spending, something that Democrats have been raving about cutting for years. Not only would the American government be following their own laws again (I know, shocking) but the Democrats would get their military spending cut. Instead, the bill is tabled.

Now, we aren't a country to just cut stuff out, unfortunately, so where would this $1.5 billion being going if not into the military? Good question. Rand Paul's idea and the entire context of this amendment was that the money would be spent here at home instead. To be more specific the money would be going to the "Bridges in Critical Corridors" fund. I don't know how many of you use bridges to get anywhere (job, sporting event, school etc.) but to me, bridges are pretty important.

Before the vote was taken today, Senator Paul gave an approximately 15 minute discussion on why this should be passed and why the amendment should matter to places like Detroit and Chicago. His most pointed statements came when he got to the topic of the actual vote and laws in place.

The law is very clear. Everyone here in Congress can read. They recognize, they recognize that the law says when there is a military coup, the aid must end. Today we will vote on whether or not they will obey the law or whether they will openly flout the law and disobey. When a military coup overturns a democratically elected government, all military aid must end. That's the law. There is no presidential waiver.

He goes on to address where the money should be going instead of overseas.

I propose that we take the billion dollars that is now being illegally given to Egypt and spend it at home. We have bridges crumbling at home. Can't we fix some of our problems at home? We have had a bridge collapse this year in Washington state. We had one collapse in Minnesota a few years ago. We have a bridge in northern Kentucky that is becoming increasingly unsafe, and yet there is not enough money to repair our bridges because your politicians are sending the money overseas. It's unwise, and right now it's illegal.

Finally, he addresses the Egyptian point one last time.

Meanwhile, they (Egypt) recently let a mob advance on our embassy, climb atop our embassy and burn our flag. I say not one penny more to these countries that allow mobs to burn our flag… I think it's unwise to send arms, particularly advanced arms, into the chaos of Egypt. I fear one day that someone may arise in Egypt who says let's attack Israel with these planes. I fear these weapons that we are giving to Egypt may someday be used against America and our allies. Even the Egyptians don't want our aid. There was a Gallup poll last year that showed 70% of Egyptians don't want the money we're sending them. To understand why, you have to understand that American aid doesn't go to the Egyptian people. It goes to the despots and the dictators that run the place.

So is what Rand Paul saying actually true? Is the money we are sending over there actually just going into the pockets and military of dictators and despots?

Well considering that most of the aid is in the form of jets, tanks and military spending I think it's safe to say that the average Egyptian doesn't get much out of our aid. In fact, 1.3 million dollars of aid is sent to Egypt in military spending, that's 87% of the total aid going to this foreign country. Another 250 million is sent in economic aid to be spent on things such as healthcare, education and democratic processes.

Once again, why are we sending so much money to foreign countries (Egypt is not the only one getting aid at this level) when we could be using that money to fix this country? When Detroit collapsed, did it suddenly become my generation's responsibility to pay for foreign nations AND the resurrection of American cities and states? Unfortunately for my generation, yes it did. Taxes are simply going to increase rather than having the government restructure taxes and spending.

I don't think this is a matter of big government vs small government right now considering liberals seem to be the ones clamouring for a smaller military budget and more money spent here at home. This is a matter of pushing the imbeciles of Congress out of the way and working to improve our nation as is. That means stopping unneeded foreign aid, shutting down borders, improving education, pushing for more jobs and pausing ObamaCare's individual mandate.