The Unlearned Lesson of Unity Around Global Aid

As a people, we have never had perfect unity around global aid, but we have had periods of broad unity.  There have been times when helping the world was seen as a moral duty, a strategic necessity, and part of American identity.  What has changed?  We have forgotten suffering, we no longer recognize that prevention matters, and for some reason we now see dignity as threatening instead of stabilizing.   That kind of unity didn’t just disappear quickly; it was unlearned over time.

Let’s go back to The Marshall Plan.  Of course, the purpose of The Marshall Plan was to aid in the economic recovery of nations following WWII, and to put the United States in good place of influence geopolitically in Western Europe.  More specifically, it aimed to prevent starvation, stop another war, and of course, to create stability so extremism could not take root again.  At this point in our history, we had a lived memory of what devastation looks like.  In a nutshell, people will not turn to dictators or chaos if they have food, stability and dignity. 

Let’s move ahead to The Cold War.  Even though The Cold War was widely supported by both parties we must recognize that the purpose was not all that altruistic.  It was during the Cold War that the US government created the U.S. Agency for International Development (1961) and launched the Peace Corps.  Across the party aisles was a belief that foreign aid reduced global instability and that hunger and poverty open doors for authoritarian regimes.

The 1980’s up to the early 2000’s was most likely the last time we agreed on this topic.  There was great bi-partisan support under Bush for HIV/AIDS support through PEPFAR. Famine relief, disaster response, and vaccine programs were widely supported. Churches, veteran’s programs, non-government groups and civic groups were all behind aid.  The United States mantra for foreign aid was, “ If we can help people, we should”, and “America Helps in times of need”.

What has changed? Over the last 20 – 25 years unity around global aid has diminished.   Trauma from 9/11 set into motion patterns that persist today. The United States has had moments in the past where events brought collective fear. Examples being, when JFK was elected, there was a collective fear of Catholics taking over the country, or Pearl Harbor.  Fear replaced solidarity and aid became entangled with war and suspicion. 

Likely, one of the biggest contributors is political polarization.  In this climate, aid became a bad word for many.  It began to be perceived as waste and/or handouts and unfortunately, compassion was even politicized.  Then there’s the issue of our own economic insecurity. So many began using the slogan, “Why help others when have our own in need at home”.

In all this, one can see, how in the US, helping others lost its moral narrative.  Somehow the entire meaning behind the WHY of global aid shifted.  Once upon a time, aid was taught as prevention, keeping peace, and shared humanity.  It appears to have been hijacked and is now framed as globalism, weakness, and exploitation.

So, yes, once upon a time, we were much more united on the front of Global Aid. We were once united on many other topics.  I don’t know if it’s because we were better people. One thing I do know is that we have unlearned unity. This is likely because once upon a time we remembered suffering.  We believed in prevention.   Dignity has shifted from being perceived as stabilizing to threatening. 

The question today is - Can we relearn what we once had? Can we return to those days when morals were morals and not so politicized?  Political polarization is whittling down everything we find beautiful and unifying to something divisive and even cruel.  We must find our way back.