A Donald Trump supporter explained how he used a fallacy to shape his belief that the Statue of Liberty — a symbol of enlightenment and freedom — should be stripped of its meaning. The man took part in a focus group convened by NBC News’ Chris Jansing to discuss immigration and other issues on voters’ minds in the presidential election, and portions of their conversation aired Monday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”…. “A lot of other countries have walls, why can’t we?”…. “I just think times have changed, though,” he said, evoking the Statue of Liberty’s inscription. “I mean, yes, we were accepting — you know, show us your weak, your tired, your poor. I think the Statue of Liberty needs to have a ‘no vacancy’ (sign). Hey, put up a wall against Canada — nothing against them, but all the money that we spend outside this country helping poor nations, Muslim nations, just dumping money into millions and millions of dollars.”
For what could be any number of reasons- fear, ignorance, prejudice, hatred, etc., ad nauseam, ad infinitum- American Exceptionalism is morphing into American Isolationism. If you’re a Donald Trump supporter, there’s a pretty good chance you believe it’s time to build a wall (actual or metaphorical, it matters not) to keep out The Other ©. You might even believe that America by rights belongs to People Like Us ©- White, Conservative, Christian, and heterosexual. “America for Americans”…or something like that. Even though your forebears arrived on these shores from a foreign land, you now want to shut the doors to others who share the same dream your ancestors did- to make a better life for themselves and their families.
The problem with this attitude is that Americans tend to be profoundly ignorant about how much of federal government outlays go to foreign aid…as well as the purposes and philosophy behind it. For them, it’s not about “To whom much is given, much is expected.” If they’ve achieved success, it’s because they built it. If others are struggling, it’s because they lack initiative, drive, and that “fire in the belly.”
Pull yourself up by your own damned bootstraps, whydon’tcha??
More than half of Americans believe the U.S. spends too much on foreign aid, but only 5 percent of them realize it makes up less than 1 percent of the federal budget.
Most Americans guess that it makes up between 2 percent and 30 percent of the budget — while about 10 percent of Americans think it’s more than half the U.S. budget.
“Put up a wall around this country, educate our youth, put it into our inner cities and just dump all that money into America and people,” the Trump supporter said.
What these reality-challenged souls fail to comprehend is that American foreign aid is as much an investment in keeping problems from reaching our shores as it is altruism. Having once upon a time worked for Mercy Corps on a program in Kosovo funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development, this is a subject I can speak to with some authority. The idea behind the program I administered was to help local business produce and distribute their products- in this case, wood stoves useful for multiple purposes. By helping develop the local economy, so the theory went, we could decrease the likelihood that businessman and craftsmen would feel the need to relocate or emigrate.
With comparatively small programs like that, American foreign aid helps reduce the need for people to feel as if their only hope is to leave their homeland in search of opportunity. Given that foreign aid outlays make up less than 1% of the total federal budget, it seems (anecdotally, at least) as if that should be considered a pretty good investment.
Despite what the “America First” crowd might believe, they’re mistaken when it comes to not only the size and impact of American foreign aid but also on the value of immigration. Unless you’re a Native American, your history originated outside our borders. The idea that the Statue of Liberty should now be sporting a “NO VACANCY” sign is as ludicrous and unrealistic as it is ignorant of what makes this country great.
America isn’t the world’s foremost economic and military power because of Conservative Christian heterosexual White folks. We are who we are because of our diversity, because of those who arrived on our shores with dreams and ideas. Putting up a “NO VACANCY” sign now would be to turn our backs on our history and heritage.
Then again, these folks probably believe that if something’s successful, they built it…and conversely, that if something is broken or not working, it’s the fault of immigrants.
Give us your arrogant, your ignorant, your “White Makes Right” believers yearning to make America into the property of good, God-fearing, Conservative White Christian heterosexuals….
