What’s Next

Now that the Cycle for Security Tour has successfully ended, Make Us Strong is preparing our next efforts to protect international development. Before we announce the next phase in our campaign we want to hear from you. Tell us in your your own words, why development is important and how you can help further our efforts.

 

13 Responses to What’s Next

  1. Bobbi says:

    I’m so glad you’re taking on this important issue! Development is really important to taking on problems around the world. Lemme know — I’d be happy to visit my Member of Congress (even though I think he’s already onboard).

  2. Jerry M. says:

    I want to help out. I can write letters to my newspaper, or to my Congressman. It’s so important that they don’t cut funding for these programs.

  3. Greg McGreggor says:

    I think you should get GI Joe on TV! What a great cause. keep up the fight Make US Strong!

  4. Sam says:

    You guys ROCK! Keep up the good work. I think you should just keep telling Congress that foreign aid is important.

  5. Bill Freeman says:

    I will be calling my member of Congress today and sharing the Joe video with all my friends on Facebook. Keep up the good work y’all!

  6. Linda Sanders says:

    I can’t believe she biked over 4,200 miles! If she can do that, I can at least write a letter to my Congressman. Ill be sure to get my friends involved too! Can you do an event here in Nashville?

  7. PaulRyanConstituent says:

    Paul Ryan’s my Congressman. The cuts he wants to make to our foriegn aid are crazy. PLEASE let me know what I can do.

  8. Stuart Johnson says:

    AWESOME! Ill be stopping by the office of my member of Congress and letting him know to support development. Just 1% of the budget? We are better than that!

  9. AReynolds says:

    Whatever it takes. Lets make sure thy get wait they need

  10. Susan Epstein says:

    Way to go Janessa! I have already called my member of Congress and signed the petition. Ill be getting all my friends to do the same!

  11. Tom Serres says:

    Janessa, You are a phenomenal person. So glad to know you.

  12. Tyson says:

    Congrats! what an enormous achievement for foreign assistance. it was great to see you “land” in DC today

  13. Brandon Fureigh says:

    Congratulations Janessa! Everyone at the Truman Project and Make US Strong Campaign are proud of you. You are an inspiration to us all. We have your back, and we will continue the fight!

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About Make US Strong

About Make US Strong

Make US Strong is a nationwide coalition of national security professionals who know that America’s security relies on the global stability that only international development can provide. Make US Strong is a campaign of the Truman National Security Project.

On the blog...

Gov Romney and Foreign Aid

Written by Andrew Lubin, Foreign & Defense Analysis

Foreign policy in the 21st century is more than massive firepower; it’s the adroit use of defense, diplomacy, and development. Yesterday at the Clinton Global Initiative in New York, Gov Romney addressed ‘development.’

What Romney calls a “Prosperity Pact” is a re-labeling of the same basic principles of foreign aid as practiced by the past Obama, Bush, and Clinton administrations while ignoring how defense and diplomacy make development possible. Stabilizing weak states provides both stability and potential export markets; as does combating drug shipments, WMD threats, and nuclear proliferation, responding to humanitarian disasters, and training foreign military and police creates partnerships that improve regional security and export markets.

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Most Americans would be surprised to know how little is actually spent on foreign aid. When asked on the street, guesses often range from 10-25% of our budget-which in times of massive deficits would be difficult to defend  – except the actual figure is 1.4%.

It’s called the International Affairs Budget, and in actual terms, 1.4% equates to$ 48 billion in 2011. This funds the State Dept and every aid and assistance program except for the Peace Corps (which costs only $ 342 million). Most Americans would be equally surprised at how the money is spent; it’s not spent on give-aways and abortion programs as claimed by the Tea Party and other isolationist groups; but instead includes military aid to Israel, a $ 100,000 grant that led to $ 61 million of US exports to Morocco, and Counternarcotics programs in Mexico – as a businessman; Gov Romney surely appreciates how the multiplier effect of that $ 100,000 US Trade & Development Agency grant to a small New Jersey company.

But what Romney still doesn’t understand is that trade will not happen in a vacuum; businessmen only invest in countries where the laws don’t change overnight and warlords don’t steal goods from the docks. While his Prosperity Pact guidelines state that the U.S. will provide aid to developing countries that remove barriers to investment and trade; it’s the International Affairs Budget that builds rule of law so countries can fight corruption, have free and fair elections, and have governments based on democratic principles creating the infrastructure that Romney-the-businessman takes for granted.

Only then will US businessmen invest and export into these growing markets

Six billion+ people live in the 3rd world or developing world, and those countries are far from easy business opportunities. While Romney acknowledged the growth of microloans and microfinance companies, in a separate memo his campaign said microloans are only a “poverty alleviation strategy” and called for a “much greater focus” for small and medium-sized businesses that are too big for microfinance. That’s a shame because the entrepreneurs Romney talks about empowering are usually small groups of Zambian women with sewing machines making clothing in Peruvian ladies selling lunches to miners; the larger companies are usually the corrupt government companies stifling those fledgling entrepreneurs.

Yesterday’s speech was a good start for Romney; his “Prosperity Pact” is an important step in the 3-part program of “defense – diplomacy – development” so necessary in the 21st Century. But as former Marine Corps Commandant Gen Michael Hagee said “This strategic approach will only be effective if all three are coherent, coordinated, and adequately resourced.”

We’ll be looking forward to the Governor’s thoughts on how – or if – he intends to implement a foreign and defense strategy that recognizes the unclear and muddled world in which these six billion potential consumers live.

Photo Courtesy of CNN