Re “Hating Uncle Sam” (feature, March 4) on the causes of anti-Americanism: Of course, the solution is not in words, but in actions. Here’s a starter list:
• Require that every U.S. ambassador be at least a 20-year veteran of the Foreign Service and be fluent in the language of the country (versus our current practice of selling ambassadorships to campaign contributors who are ignorant of foreign affairs, ignorant of the country, and who don’t speak the language).
• How many hundreds of thousands of people per year are killed around the world with U.S.-made weapons? Ban the export of all U.S. weapons.
• Increase the Peace Corps’ budget from $374 million (0.08 percent of the Defense Department’s $481 billion) to, say, $5 billion (1 percent of the defense budget). I was in the Peace Corps and can assure you that I (and many other volunteers) won the hearts and minds of everyone in our villages.
• Do not blindly vote in favor of Israel on every single vote in the U.N., when even in the Knesset disagreements regularly occur on the same issues. How about these for criteria: When Israel is right, vote in favor. When it’s wrong, vote against.
The likelihood of the United States government — even the enlightened new administration — even thinking about any of the above? Zip. Why? It’s all about the money.