Clinton & Modern Day Imperialism & Colonialism

First, let me applaud President Bill Clinton for having the courage and gumption to admit the error (I would like to say malice, albeit unintentional) in our foreign aid policies. As Clinton stated, "We all blew it, including me when I was president...Food is not a commodity like others. We should go back to a policy of maximum food self-sufficiency. It is crazy for us to think we can develop countries around the world without increasing their ability to feed themselves." By treating food crops as commodities instead of as a vital right of the world's poor, we have in effect castrated agricultural self-sufficiency. This is particularly egregious in nations with regimes of dictatorship, corruption, and coercion, which unfortunately are the norm in Africa. Let me also, applaud President George W. Bush for having the foresight and the integrity to introduce legislation which would have positively altered this policy.

Please allow me to impart the wisdom of the statements that will follow through this cursory history lesson. During much of modern history, that is, for the 15th - 20th centuries, imperialism and colonialism were the paramount "diplomatic" strategies of European nations. The American Heritage Dictionary in essence defines imperialism as extending a nation's authority by territorial acquisition or by the establishment of economic and political hegemony over other nations. It defines colonialism as "a policy by which a nation maintains or extends its control over foreign dependencies". The British, the Dutch, Germans, French (not an exhaustive list)--all of the world's most powerful nations exercised such policies and successfully garnered control of many African, South American, and Asian nations. Just Google Cecil Rhodes for whom Rhodesia was named (now Zimbabwe), or the Sepoy Mutiny to get a picture of the gravity of these policies. Colonialism and Imperialism are the very policies which have resulted in the Haitis of today.

I'm certain that most would find my analogy of imperialism/colonialism to our foreign aid policies a bit too grave, but let's call a spade a spade. By the very definition provided by the American Heritage Dictionary or any other reputable reference of your choosing, we are in effect extending our authority by the establishment of an obvious economic hegemony through the elimination of agricultural subsidies & education in poor nations. Moreover, we have been acting to strengthen agricultural output in our own nation by requiring that all aid be from our coffers. The result has been, as you would certainly understand it if you are familiar with our subsidies to US farmers, agricultural, economic, political, diplomatic, social, and philanthropic (for the sake of image) rise for our nation.

For the nations receiving the aid, we provided them with the proverbial fish and fed them for symbolically a day, and literally for a few days. What we have failed to do, is empower and educate these nations and their people towards self-sufficiency. Like the days of overt colonialism and imperialism, we have executed policies which are inherently designed to drive other nations towards dependency on foreign governments. You have so many ignoramuses, who will cry aloud in anger as to why these countries or those people cannot help themselves. They have not been given the tools necessary to do so. We deprived them of not only the fishing lesson, but the rod as well.