The amount of foreign aid given by developed countries should be increased.

I will start off by saying that I will not directly attack my opponent's arguments in this round and start with my opening arguments. I concur with my opponent's definitions. Foreign aid is not as broad of a topic as I am used to debating, so I will have only two main contentions. They are that foreign aid is bad for the interests of both developed and developing countries. Contention 1: Foreign Aid is harmful to the interests of developed countries. For the sake of simplicity, I will often use the United States as an example of a developed country. As a developed nation we do have a very big role in the world and we ought to accept that, but we must not forget to protect our vital interests. Foreign aid packages are huge. In 2012, the United States' total foreign aid expenditures were $48.4 billion. The amount is a little higher today and it makes up close to a tenth of the military budget. The U.S is broke. We have to borrow this money from China to send it to countries like Egypt and Pakistan. It's not authorized in the Constitution that the federal government can take money from the people and send it to various countries around the world. Foreign aid essentially takes money from mostly poor and middle class people in the United States and gives it to dictators in developing countries. In a 2012 presidential debate, Congressman Ron Paul said that foreign aid is received by dictators in developing nations and buys tanks and other weapons that are used against U.S interests. It becomes weapons of war. That's what happens when we give aid in the form of money. When we give aid in the form of weapons like we did to the Mujaheddin in the 1990's, the group ended up becoming the Taliban and began causing violence all throughout Afghanistan including against American soldiers. Clearly, foreign aid is a minor but significant burden to our economy and it often goes to help our enemies. https://en.wikipedia.org... http://www.cato.org... Contention 2: Foreign aid is harmful to the interests of developing countries. There are many ways that this particular argument works. The three countries that received the most U.S foreign aid in 2012 were Afghanistan, Israel, and Iraq. Most people agree that Israel and the United States are allies. I understand that Israel is a small country in a large and very dangerous region, so they have many people in need. I believe as long as we stand by their side so to speak, and threaten any country that poses a threat to Israel, Israel can become self reliant. The foreign aid that they receive from us largely becomes weapons of war, but it also makes Israel dependent on us. But the Israeli's might be happy to have us supporting them right? Wrong. According to an article published by the Jerusalem Post, a poll went out to Israelis and they were asked whether or not they want to become less dependent on U.S aid. 49% said yes, 45% said no and the remaining 6% had no opinion. Clearly, there is a very large portion of Israel that believes it can stand on its own. As a developed nation, it is our responsibility to stand with our allies, but also to let them take care of themselves. http://www.jpost.com... http://www.povertyeducation.org... https://en.wikipedia.org... I look forward to my opponent's rebuttals.