Receiving foreign aid

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  • #15016
    brettcaudle711
    Participant

    I’ve wondered this for a while now:

    Liberty minded individuals reject the idea of giving foreign aid and that we should stay out of others’ affairs. So then should the united States have sought foreign aid from other nation in regard to our war for independence? Should the southern states during the “Civil War” have turned for outside assistance? And if others were willing to give, should we have taken as a loan or maybe even as a gift?
    To put it plainly, do grounds exist where foreign aid could be a legitimate option?

    Thank you!

    #15017
    maester_miller
    Participant

    Hmmm, that’s certainly an interesting question. A liberty minded person will almost always be opposed (philosophically at least) to receiving any sort of gift that was obtained through coersion, which would include essentially any gift that comes from a government rather than a individual or voluntary association of individuals.

    That said, I believe that most of the aid we received was in the form of loans, rather than gifts. As far as military aid goes, to view this as some sort of gift might be somewhat naieve. European nations didn’t provide aid to the colonies or to the south out of the kindness of their hearts or out of some sense of guilt (like the foreign aid we give out today), they gave it out of unquestionably selfish national interests. The French and the Dutch supported colonists to weaken their rivals in England, not because they loved freedom or some such thing.

    #15018
    brettcaudle711
    Participant

    Thanks for your insight!

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