U.S. out of the U.N.!

I grew up in Southern California during the 1950s. I remember seeing
"U.S. out of the U.N.!" billboards that the John Birch Society
sponsored. When I asked my parents what the signs meant, they said I
should ignore them. You see, many Americans believed the Birchers were
so far to the right that they were on the other side of the moon.

A half-century later, I find myself agreeing with the John Birch
Society's 1950s sentiment. It is time for the U.S. to leave the United
Nations and forge a new set of relationships with governments of the
world.

Last week, Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C., told the U.N. Security Council
that the United States would respect the United Nations and its charter
as long as the organization doesn't impede America's right to do what it
thinks best for the world. To make sure that no one missed his point, he
continued by saying, "The American people will never accept the claims
of the United Nations to be the sole source of legitimacy on the use of
force in the world." Amen, brother Helms.

The American press and our "allies" don't like what Helms said.
Nevertheless, he is right on the mark. Americans have fought and died
for the freedom of people all over the world. We would dishonor the
memory of our brave soldiers to allow others to turn around and tell us
what to do. No country has earned the right to tell us what to do. No
country is strong enough to make us do what we don't want to do. What
we now must do is make sure that we don't finance their ganging up on us
via the United Nations.

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After spending centuries watching Europeans slaughter each other and
various peoples of the world, Americans fought and died in two world
wars to try to bring civilization to Europe. As we see every day in
Northern Ireland, Yugoslavia and Russia, our boys may have died in vain.

For 50 years America has spent hundreds of billions of dollars
keeping our troops in Western Europe to protect Europeans from the
Russians. We spent hundreds of additional billions under the Marshall
Plan to rebuild Europe. Now these beggars want to tell us how to run
our country. Sorry, friends, but that dog doesn't hunt.

Not only are our allies arrogant; they are selfish skinflints. Have
they offered to pay us back for our Marshall Plan investment in their
survival? No. Have they offered to pay us back for the billions we
spent protecting them during the Cold War? No. Nevertheless, they want
to tell us what we can and cannot do.

They are now whining about America paying all the dues we supposedly
owe the United Nations. But even that stinks. America pays the lion's
share of the cost for all of the "U.N." peacekeeping missions. However,
we get no credit against our dues for these expenditures. What is worst
is the whole dues structure.

Under the current system, America's dues are more than all other
permanent members of the U.N. Security Council combined. America is
responsible for 25 percent of the U.N.'s budget; France is billed for
6.54 percent, Britain for 5.09 percent, Russia for 1.48 percent and
China for 0.973 percent. Ironically, Japan, at 19.98 percent, and
Germany, at 9.80 percent, pay more than all of the rest of Western
Europe combined. Yet neither Japan nor Germany plays a major role in
providing troops, materiel or cash for the U.N.'s peacekeeping
missions. That just stinks.

If you think Europe's arrogance is limited to the United Nations,
think again. The United States is the only country in the world that
allows drug companies to recoup the full cost of their research and
development in the price of the new drugs. What does that mean for us?
It means that Americans subsidize all pharmaceutical research in the
world because of our free market. It is yet another example of how our
European and other "allies" suck our blood.

When you add the World Trade Organization, the newly created
International Criminal Court and NATO, our "allies" are clearly getting
ready to gang up on us. We can't stop them from doing what they think
makes sense, but we don't have to finance their madness. We can't stop
them from trying to do together what each of them is too weak to do on
their own -- compete with us head up -- but we don't have to aid and
abet these weaklings.

It is time for America to throw a monkey wrench into the one-world
government machinery. It is time for America to revoke their American
Express card and make them pay the full freight. It is time for America
to remove all of our troops from foreign soil and let them defend
themselves. If our "allies" want to take us down, let's see what they
can do when they are forced to stand on their stubby little legs.

So, 50 years late, I too say, U.S. Out of The U.N.!