I am not as pessimistic as you. While the political situation in the US is currently a mess with the Republicans pushing a new intolerant kind of populism to try to recapture a past that never was, this is not the instinct of the country as a whole. The US has always been about helping those in need and those struggling for freedom and the right to live prosperously in peace.
Many are exhausted from the Country’s adventurism in Iraq and Afghanistan. We mistakenly believed that those countries wanted the same thing as Ukraine. In point of fact they are actually tribal groups with no sense of national unity. Ukraine is different. Its people are united and have a vision for the future shared by America. They have a proud history and tradition. It is exactly the kind of country that embraces our values. To abandon it would be morally reprehensible. They need more, not less. I hope the politicians understand this and do the right thing. The current administration will continue to provide support, while trying to walk the tight rope of making sure the conflict does not spin out of control into a much larger war.
If the Republicans take over, all bets are off. I think the fear that they are too narrow minded to look beyond their own self interest and thirst for power at all costs, is all too real. In this they are much like Putin. They long for a past that never existed. They’re trying to turn back the clock of progress by hundreds of years. They are the dinosaurs of history. The world is moving past them and their intolerant self interest. But even there, the far right has a strong patriotic bent and believes in helping friends near and far. Many of them have served in the military and enthusiastically support our efforts at home and abroad. I pray that this will inform and motivate their decisions going forward. I hold out hope that Ukraine will not become collateral damage due to the Republicans’ lack of vision. Much of the call for reducing aid is a political ploy to win the election. I suspect some of the rhetoric will go away after it is over. We as a country are better than that.
