In 1988, I had the incredible opportunity to travel around the world. I studied in Zimbabwe, built houses in Malawi, worked at a leprosy hospital in India and became embedded with anti-apartheid activists in South Africa, even smuggling documents for the ANC back to Zimbabwe.
As I think back to that time now, as the U.S. is being turned upside down, two things stick out.
First, I learned the importance of U.S. Agency for International Development. Everywhere I went, because I was an American, people connected me to the good, nonpolitical work this organization does for mere pennies. It saves and improves the lives of children across the globe, preventing AIDS, providing clean water, defending against practices that mutilate girls or traffic young boys and coordinating hunger relief programs..
More than any other organization in the world, USAID is known for its humanitarian aid and support of people in impoverished areas.That is not only important because it’s good and right to do so, it is also smart. You build better, deeper, more meaningful relationships by inviting your friends for tea and cookies than by threatening to pour pesticides all over their grass if they don’t do what you want. Friends you make do more for you than people you bully.
People loved and supported the U.S. because of the presence of USAID. You may not know much about it because it takes up less than 1 percent of the U.S. budget, but trust me, people in countries you may never have heard of know it and will feel its absence. And the good will we lose will be snapped up in a second by our adversaries, especially China, whose “Roads and Belts” has made inroads to trading projects and security interests around the globe already. Dollar for dollar, we are made far safer by the small percent we spend on USAID than much of the 13 percent of our budget we spend on the military.
It’s wrong to cut USAID because we are part of the global community, and it is dumb to cut it because doing so makes the world more dangerous for Americans at home and abroad.
But the second thing I learned during my travels in 1988, especially my time and work in South Africa, is the depth of the hatred and racism embedded into the system of apartheid, coordinated by the Afrikaners who created it. And make no mistake, Elon Musk is an Afrikaner of the ilk that created and worshipped apartheid. He embodies everything that was heinous about apartheid. It is a perversion of church and state, creating a false belief that he is of a superior race, chosen by God. And him becoming the de facto controller of our country and its purse strings is worse than if it were any villain in a “Batman” or “Bond” movie.
What is happening now with USAID, and cutting all aid in South Africa, is Elon Musk’s payback for what happened when apartheid fell in 1990. It has nothing to do with government efficiency. It is just as much a grudge match toward the rest of Africa with him as the J6 revenge is the focus for the current president.
We are weaker for his actions and as Americans. the world is a more dangerous place. But Musk doesn’t care. All he cares about is getting even for the fall of apartheid.
Don’t let this happen without lifting your voice. Call your senators and representatives. Again and again and again. As long as we have a voice, we are not powerless. And we need to wield that power because unless we act now, we will be in far more danger later, not only physically, but morally.
This really is the battle for the soul of a nation.