H. Res 34: Israel's Right to Defend & My letter to my Congressman

I'm annoyed that everyone in Congress thinks it's important to let Israel know that we think everything they're doing is so great. The American people hold diverse opinions on the issue, yet in Washington everyone is lock step in support of Israel. Only Paul, Kucinich, and 3 other Democrats in the House voted against this resolution "Recognizing Israel's right to defend itself, etc, etc". Nobody in the Senate did. Just goes to show that Washington serves their special interests first, not their constituents.

So anyway I sent my Congressman, McCotter this note. Recall that McCotter was one of the brave people to passionately and eloquently oppose the $700 billion bailout.

Congressman McCotter,

Please reconsider your stance on issuing statements in favor of or opposed to the affairs of foreign nations that have little relevance to the interests of the American people. Reasonable people differ with regards to Israel's actions in Gaza. But why is it that the U.S. government feels it necessary to insert themselves into issues all over the world? There's nothing wrong with having an opinion. But the problem is these resolutions pave the way for further involvement on our part. How does this serve the interests of your constituents?

This area of the world has been fought over for hundreds if not thousands of years. What kind of sense does it make for the United States to pour billions of dollars into the region in a possibly hopeless effort to resolve these centuries old conflicts? Our roads are full of pot holes. Our bridges are falling apart. Our economy is on the ropes. Yet we think it is our business to be pontificating about who ought to be doing what on the other side of the world?

Israel has a vibrant economy and we send them billions to defend themselves. We likewise send even more money to Israel's enemies. Especially Egypt. We helped create Hamas in an effort to counter Arafat's party. We created the radical madrassas in Afghanistan in order to counter the Soviets. We installed Saddam to counter Iran. We installed the Shah of Iran and look how that turned out. Our meddling is costly and often counter productive. We need to extract ourselves from these foreign entanglements and focus on putting our own house in order. Let foreigners resolve their own conflicts so that we can get back to the business of dealing with our own problems.

Respectfully,

Jon Curry