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Although the saying, “Spending like drunken sailors” gives an unfair and negative view of our naval personnel, it’s probably one that we have heard many times. It derives from when sailors would get paid just before they took their leave in various ports. They would spend all their money on the vices of the city in which they docked and would return to their ships broke.

The same saying is perfectly appropriate for our current Congress as they seek to spend $40 billion dollars on a bill to aid Ukraine. Hardly no one could support the brutality of the Russian aggression against Ukraine, but should we be “spending like drunken sailors” to help them?

Help them? Of course. Ever since the invasion of Ukraine, the world has been sympathetic to that nation. And take a quick guess as to which nation has sent more than anyone. Triple or quadruple the amount of anyone. If you answer, “Uncle Sam,” pat yourself on the back.

Again, let us help. More than that, let us seek a way to reduce the actions. It seems that the amount of money and military supplies were are sending is like pouring gasoline on the fire. If we have any influence, why don’t week use most of it to put out the fire.

It’s not like we have a grove of money trees growing in Washington. We are $30 trillion dollars in debt and it seems like it is growing by leaps and bounds. It doesn’t seem like it, it is!

I liked what Rand Paul said about the $40 billion dollar bill. He is the only senator that stood against the bill and said, “We cannot save Ukraine by dooming the American economy.” Amen. He also said that we don’t have the money and will have to borrow it from China. That’s true also.

Many people associate the philosophy “America First” with Donald Trump, but the idea behind making decisions that are good for us began many decades before Mr. Trump enunciated the policy. I, personally, do not believe that we are being selfish when we think, first, of the health of our nation.

I understand that we have been the most prosperous nation in the history of the world and, as the Bible says, “To whom much is given, much is required.” I believe we have a responsibility to help other nations when we can, but who would deny that we have spent ourselves into the poorhouse by wasting our resources.

Our nation is at another crossroads and, maybe this time, we haven’t stopped. We have ignored the stop sign at the crossroads and are endangering ourselves. As Senator Paul wisely said, “We cannot save others by ignoring our own nation.” I know those aren’t his exact words, but the sentiment is there.

There is another popular saying, “Charity begins at home.” I don’t always go along with that. I think we should be helpful to others in their needs. But, to truly help others, we need to be healthy ourselves.

Our problems are really monumental and existential. If we don’t address some of these dangerous situations, we will not be able to help anyone. It’s easy to see the unraveling of our nation. Just this week we have had two or three shootings that have resulted in multiple deaths. In Chicago, alone, there were 33 shootings this past weekend.

Inflation is debilitating to our families. An actual invasion is occurring on the southern border. Reliable institutions that were once hallmarks of the great USA won’t even answer our phone calls anymore. And our leaders of both parties, I might add, don’t seem to care about working together for the good.