By: Daniel Nardini
In an effort to help the Libyan rebels, U.S. President Barack Obama has announced that the United States is giving $25 million in “non-lethel aid.” This includes uniforms, boots, halal (food fit for Muslims to eat) meat, first-aid, etc. It is everything that I had feared, and it seems that the U.S. is getting sucked further into the Libyan civil war that much more. One question that still comes to my mind is who are the rebels, and will they truly be pro-western if somehow they succeed? It is beginning to look doubtful they will be able to conquer Libya—even with massive NATO air-support they are barely hanging on to the eastern half of Libya.
But now I must ask another fundamental question. Why is the U.S. government giving away $25 million when this money is desperately needed in the United States? This money alone can go to fix the public transportation system of the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) alone. All of America’s major cities are crying out for money to fix their crumbling infrastructure and help the growing army of poor and destitute and homeless in their respective cities. But we keep hearing from the U.S. government that “there is no more money.” So we have to make cutbacks and this means even less money for those suffering the most.
Now suddenly the U.S. government has “found” money to help a people we hardly even know and this may be only the first installment of money for the Libyan rebels. Weaponry and military support will come next. One has to wonder why U.S. President Obama is getting this country into a civil war being fought on another continent, that has no tie in with U.S. national security, and getting heavily involved in a third war (after Afghanistan and Iraq) when America is facing its highest national debt in history? Whatever Obama and the rest of the U.S. government may feel about Libyan strongman Muamar Gaddhafi, the American politicians have a moral, ethical and legal obligation to the American people first. So why are they wasting U.S. taxpayer dollars in a war that really does not involve us?
We have serious unemployment in this country. We have people who are wondering where their next meal will come from. We have an ever-growing army of homeless and destitute people. We have public transportation that is going to pieces. We have people who are still losing their homes to mortgage foreclosures at a record rate. We still have businesses failing because the federal government “has no money” to help them. And the list of problems goes on and on. I don’t think the politicians in Washington, D.C. have a clue of the country they were born in and elected to serve.
The Hole in the Budget Argument
By: Daniel Nardini
In an effort to help the Libyan rebels, U.S. President Barack Obama has announced that the United States is giving $25 million in “non-lethel aid.” This includes uniforms, boots, halal (food fit for Muslims to eat) meat, first-aid, etc. It is everything that I had feared, and it seems that the U.S. is getting sucked further into the Libyan civil war that much more. One question that still comes to my mind is who are the rebels, and will they truly be pro-western if somehow they succeed? It is beginning to look doubtful they will be able to conquer Libya—even with massive NATO air-support they are barely hanging on to the eastern half of Libya.
But now I must ask another fundamental question. Why is the U.S. government giving away $25 million when this money is desperately needed in the United States? This money alone can go to fix the public transportation system of the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) alone. All of America’s major cities are crying out for money to fix their crumbling infrastructure and help the growing army of poor and destitute and homeless in their respective cities. But we keep hearing from the U.S. government that “there is no more money.” So we have to make cutbacks and this means even less money for those suffering the most.
Now suddenly the U.S. government has “found” money to help a people we hardly even know and this may be only the first installment of money for the Libyan rebels. Weaponry and military support will come next. One has to wonder why U.S. President Obama is getting this country into a civil war being fought on another continent, that has no tie in with U.S. national security, and getting heavily involved in a third war (after Afghanistan and Iraq) when America is facing its highest national debt in history? Whatever Obama and the rest of the U.S. government may feel about Libyan strongman Muamar Gaddhafi, the American politicians have a moral, ethical and legal obligation to the American people first. So why are they wasting U.S. taxpayer dollars in a war that really does not involve us?
We have serious unemployment in this country. We have people who are wondering where their next meal will come from. We have an ever-growing army of homeless and destitute people. We have public transportation that is going to pieces. We have people who are still losing their homes to mortgage foreclosures at a record rate. We still have businesses failing because the federal government “has no money” to help them. And the list of problems goes on and on. I don’t think the politicians in Washington, D.C. have a clue of the country they were born in and elected to serve.