alt Hacker News> And I care a lot more about what’s good for America as a whole than trying to protect someone’s income.
Uncharitably, it sounds like you think of your nation as a generic economic zone whose growth you want to continually increase at all costs, regardless of the fate of its citizens. But what is a nation, if not the people that comprise it?
Sure, that's one way of looking at it. But the truth is that there is only one force for civilization in the World today and that is America. The end of USAID illustrated something: America stands alone against the entropy of nature. She is humanity's only vanguard against ruin. The Chinese are dedicated to their own advancement, the Indians are currently bootstrapping out of poverty, the Europeans are primarily concerned with wine, cheese, and luxury goods. Fair play to all of them - may they live in peace.
But one nation, alone, fights Humanity's cause. Trump et al have cast off the mantle, but it's only another 3.5 years and we have a shot at donning it again. The nation is not for the people - or we would simply rapaciously consume its resources to feed the present. The people of the nation are not for the nation or we would consume them to fuel the engine. The nation and the people are both there to advance the principles of the group into the future. And I believe America's principles deserve to exist into perpetuity so long as they adapt to meet shifting weather.
Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country.