Make America Generous Again

Have you ever noticed that whenever you do something nice for someone, it makes you feel good? Even little things, like holding the door at the Post Office for someone juggling an armful of mail.

Or you drop a few dollars in the collection basket at church on Sunday. Maybe it’s some change you drop in a jar at the gas station to help someone fighting an illness. It doesn’t cost you much, but it gives you satisfaction knowing you’re helping someone.

And the people you help feel good about you, even if they don’t know who you are.

It works that way with nations too. Over the years, the United States has been the most generous country on earth. Whenever something bad happened around the globe, whether it was natural disasters or health emergencies, Americans were there to help.

It made us feel good, and the people we helped on the other side of the globe felt good too, towards generous Americans.

At no time has this been more evident than at the end of World War II. We had vanquished our enemies in Germany and Japan, and could have left them to rot. But instead, through the Marshall Plan and other programs, we helped our former enemies recover as we fed them and helped them rebuild. After World Wars I and II, Iowa’s own Herbert Hoover, a Republican who was chosen by Democratic presidents to lead relief efforts, was instrumental in saving Europe from starvation. As a result, Germans and Japanese became strong allies in the years since World War II. The U.S. could be counted on to always offer a helping hand.

The cost was not that great. Foreign aid amounts to just 1% of the U.S. budget, yet it has paid dividends far greater than any other investment we could have made.

And until now it has been bipartisan.

In 2024, the USA spent $85.8 billion in foreign aid to 175 countries. That number fell to $46.1 billion in 2025 and just $4.31 billion in 2026 as our current administration has basically wiped out foreign aid.

When there was an earthquake just about anywhere in the world, the United States would send our military to the region to help in rescue efforts. But no such effort was made after our neighbors in Venezuela were devastated recently, with tens of thousands missing under rubble.

President George W. Bush started a fund to wipe out AIDS in Africa, with great results, until we quit funding it over the last two years. Now kids are dying from the dreaded disease again. Likewise with President Obama’s efforts to wipe out ebola. That, too, was successful until we cut funding for it and now it’s back with a vengeance over the past year. How long can we keep it from jumping to our shores?

We’ve always been good neighbors to Canada and Mexico — and all of Europe. All have been our allies through thick and thin. Until now, when we belittle and insult them and erect trade barriers. Now Canada and Mexico are turning to China’s helping hands.

It’s even happening in athletics. Last week we forced the soccer gods to reinstate an American soccer player who had been disqualified for fouling a competitor. Whatever happened to sportsmanship?

We’re not Making America Great Again by bullying people. We’re making the rest of the world hate us. A person never stands as tall as when they bend over to help someone in need.