A tail wags the dog

There is something fishy going on in our country.  An octopus with multiple tentacles has managed to reach into every chamber where laws are made.   Its influence redirects our tax dollars to the benefit of a foreign government with little care or concern for the well-being of the American taxpayer whom our Congress mandates must provide the funds.

Since 1949 Israel has received $97 billion in U. S. aid and annually receives approximately $3 billion.   The U. S. being in a deficit funding position itself, is forced to borrow money which it then provides to Israel, increasing the cost of this aid  another 60%.  Several months ago I wrote to Senator Hatch of Utah protesting the annual $3 billion in aid we provide Israel.  In his reply Senator Hatch justified the aid on basis of Israel being our ally and having never defaulted on a loan.  What he neglected to say is that Israel has never defaulted on a loan because the Economic Support Funds going to Israel must never fall below the amount of money needed by Israel to repay its loans to the United States. All loans are eventually forgiven thus never defaulted on.

Lobbying Congress is an art which has been encouraged over the years by members of Congress who are always willing to receive perks for votes and by lobbying groups, such as AIPAC, which is dedicated to buying support for Israel.  PACs can give a candidate up to $10,000.  By splitting into 50 PACs, one for each state, it is possible for AIPAC to spend a half million dollars to support or defeat a candidate who does or does not toe the line and support Israel. Therefore when it comes to politics regarding Israel, there are only a very few members of Congress who do not bow to the Israeli flag. Thus we have the tail wagging the dog and it is a cowering dog at best.

In Utah where I live, there are 70,000 children living in poverty. The number must be larger in more populous states. Surely, it makes more sense to help our own citizens instead of giving billions to Israel so they can pay a Russian Jew $20,000 to emigrate to Israel. What we need in Washington is more decency and less politics as usual. What we need is no more aid for Israel.

The author, along with his family, lived in Saudi Arabia for fifteen rewarding years where he worked for the Arabian American Oil Co (Aramco). He contributed above article to Media Monitors Network (MMN).