Right-wing Republicans approve of spending trillions of dollars on wars America has been fighting overseas since the beginning of the decade, yet just this August America was near to default and overwhelmed with debt rising to trillions of dollars. The need that America has to “police” the world is not one that should be prioritized over keeping our country from default and the economic turmoil that would affect our nation for generations to come if we did. America should not spend excessive amounts of money on wars, as it jeopardizes our economy and credibility.

            First, America is spending trillions of dollars on wars overseas during hard economic times when spending cuts should be our priority. It is because of wars like the ones we have been fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq without much, if any, international support, that allows statistics like the following to be true: annalists from CBS MoneyWatch confirm that America currently borrows approximately forty cents for every dollar it spends. Just this summer, the effects of our extravagant spending began to sink in as a palpable fear when the August Debt Ceiling Crisis occurred, in which the debt ceiling, or the maximum amount of debt that Congress allows the U.S. government to have, was raised to prevent the United States from defaulting. It has been raised a total of six times since the year 2006 to prevent such an occurrence. To put it in perspective, if the United States were to default, the economy, global markets, and the dollar would collapse. The nation would lose its credit rating, and it would be years, decades, even generations until the U.S. would be restored into its position before default; one not in favor of us as it is. We cannot, with clean conscience, have our final sacrifices jeopardize not only our own futures, but the futures of generations of Americans to come, who would grow up with hopelessly minimal prospects during the oppressive economic times default would bring. Are we civilized people, as we think ourselves to be, if we, as Thomas Paine questioned in Common Sense when America was declaring its independence from Britain, devour (the future of) our young, which even brutes do not do? Will we allow our children and their children and grandchildren to suffer only because someone never made an effort to raise awareness of the disastrous spending on wars that America now leads? Currently, the public debt of the United States of America is a catastrophic 10, 458, 919, 452, 055 dollars says the Economist, and increases daily as if a time bomb ticking away, getting closer to explosion every second. In comparison, the U.S. has spent a total of approximately 800 billion dollars on the war in Iraq, and approximately 470 billion dollars on the war in Afghanistan. While some argue that all countries are in debt, and that debt is inevitable, I can assure you that the concern is not the debt our country faces, but the amount. As a nation, America’s debt exceeds the debt of almost all superpower countries, including France, Italy, Germany, Great Britain, Brazil, and China, by almost eight trillion dollars each. Yet, China has a population that exceeds that of the U.S. by more than one billion, and should reasonably have at least a debt that measures up to ours in the range of a couple billion or trillion. Due to the burden upon the shoulders of America that supports not only the countries we are at war with but also our own nation, America sinks lower and lower until we are once again face to face with economic turmoil as seen during events such as the August Debt Ceiling Crisis.

            Moreover, the United States’ need to “police” the world is foolish during a time when we should be putting the dollars spent doing so towards fighting the war against terror on our own soil or decreasing our country’s escalating debt so that we can improve our nation’s schools, hospitals, and population of those in poverty due to foreclosure, unemployment, and debt. While some may see no longer aiding those in need as American exceptionalism and selfishness, it could be nothing further. Rather, these narrow-minded people should first recognize the action that America has taken alone to improve the governments and societies of countries through war (as seen in Iraq and Afghanistan). And is it not selfish of the rest of the world to give the burden of the political mistakes of all countries to a single nation? Does the world not remember the purpose of international organizations such as the United Nations? Their purpose is to prevent one country from supporting the world, as near collapse is inevitable, and the pillars of America, once strong, weaken with our own predicament, and are further cracked by the problems of other countries. “Isolation!” cry some when this subject is recognized, but I challenge these people to explain why America must aid countries with their political situations after we have already dragged ourselves through the mud as the rest of the world observed quietly on the sidelines. At some point, it is no longer America’s duty to correct the mistakes that were previously made by countries now stuck with corrupt politicians and debt, as we are, I might add.  Should we not improve our own government and debt before we escalate our situation by trying to solve others’ problems while killing numerous American soldiers each day? Obviously not! Yet we, The United States, do; we allow ourselves to be the largest belligerents, or those engaged in war, in Iraq and the second largest in Afghanistan (after NATO, an organization of multiple countries), while countries like Italy, Spain, the Republic of Korea, and Poland withdrew long ago from Iraq, and the Netherlands and Canada from Afghanistan.

            Ultimately, The United States of America cannot “police” the world or be expected to sacrifice trillions of dollars and countless American lives to aid countries after a certain point, as this only weakens us as a nation. And in truth it is impossible for one country to support a person or nation until the end. This support may build up the one person or country in need, or it may have no impact upon the country’s situation, but, regardless of this, the strength of the nation or people aiding these charitable causes will surely weaken and crumble, leading both parties to their demise. Once again, Thomas Paine’s logic rings true since, just as parents do not eternally support their child once grown, America cannot support the world forever. And, righteously, America should not need to shoulder the burden of debts and wars worldwide while unaided and deserted by the rest of the world during disastrous economic times for our country. These wars can only bring the collapse of our nation along with our markets, economy and credibility. So let us control our need to regulate, let us be aided in our overseas wars, let us make the needed spending cuts to reduce our debt, and let us finally get America back on track so that the final sacrifice we make is not of our children’s futures.

Catherine O’Donohue
Age 12, Grade 7,
The Chapin School
Silver Key