US Foreign Policy and Foreign Aid

    In the past few weeks, there have been a number of major demonstrations in various cities around the world against the United States. These demonstrations involved attacking US embassies and consulates, burning the American flag, shouting and written placards against the US, and in one case the killing of several State Department foreign employees.
    These demonstrations have called into question the validity of US foreign policy and particularly the continuance of foreign aid.
    These are good questions, but the subsequent discussions by various news analysts and government representatives involve only minutia, without addressing the main subjects. It is past time for the use of a little common sense.
    It is not important concerning who is responsible for the foreign dissatisfaction, or how it originated. Let us simply consider it is there and widespread in various countries. There are several obvious actions we could take. Try to make the demonstrators love is by giving them gifts and nice small-talk promises. That is pretty much what we have been doing up to now, and if it has not led to the demonstrations, it has at least not forestalled them.
    Another alternative is to get out. Close the embassies and consulates, with return of American employees to the US and advise Americans living abroad to return to the US or stay abroad at their own risk. That sounds a little extreme and some have already said that we should stay "engaged". The proper course of action should be a partial activity. Beef-up security on some embassies and consulates, close others, and advise Americans abroad that they are there at some risk to themselves.
    Another tool we have at our disposal is foreign aid. We have been giving the governments of various countries tremendous amounts of money. The basis of these grants is rather nebulous. Perhaps we do this to further democracy (nationbuilding), which is ridiculous. We don't even have democracy in the US. We are rushing headlong into socialism, and have been for 60 years.
    Perhaps we have been granting foreign aid for "services rendered". That might be allowance for US military bases, which would obviously be justified, providing we in fact need a military base at that location. There may be other justifiable reasons for large amounts of foreign aid, but they are not obvious and likely don't exist. One thought is that we are generally a compassionate people, and like to help others who have a less money. But, should we be borrowing money to help the less fortunate? If we have to borrow, it is obvious that we can't help ourselves.    Go back to services rendered. That could be interpreted as general government cooperation. If the Egyptian people are demonstrating against the United States, what is the position of the Egyptian government? Does that government agree with the actions of its people? If it does, there's no justification for continuation of foreign aid, because there is no service rendered. If it does not agree with the actions of its people, what is it doing to change those actions?
    The response of the US should be obvious, wherever there is demonstration against the US, and that demonstration is claimed to be based on a militant minority, such as extreme Islamists, we should immediately discontinue foreign aid, with a statement that when you (the foreign government) get things under control, so that we can have reasonable cooperation, we will reconsider some form of foreign aid. Simply put, we will borrow money to support peace and bi-national economic development using foreign-based US private and government citizens, providing you can make a physically safe environment.