Philley letter: Increase foreign aid

I couldn’t agree more with Betsy Dunklin (March 30) regarding the reckless and inhumane cuts to U.S. foreign aid proposed by the Trump administration. This will weaken our nation’s moral authority and undermine our security in a world already plagued with radical inequities and armed conflict.

As a retired USAID foreign service officer, I can attest that the minuscule fraction of our national budget appropriated to humanitarian assistance brings immeasurable benefits at home and abroad. We should be supporting an increase in foreign aid, not it’s dismantlement.

As Dunklin writes, eliminating aid guarantees the need for more guns. Military escalation assures there will be more refugees fleeing war zones. Displaced people with no hope for a better future feed the growth of terrorism in all corners of the globe. Exacerbating this misery is the potentially catastrophic warming and instability of the earth’s climate. Trump and his associates steadfastly deny that this is a problem.

There is reason to believe the Trump administration will be short-lived. His fraudulent and self-serving excesses likely will fuel a political backlash in which many of his supporters finally come to their senses. All citizens must be resilient in resisting the hubris now confronting our democracy.

This story was originally published April 18, 2017 at 6:11 PM with the headline "Philley letter: Increase foreign aid."