By Eric Lee | MANHATTAN

The United Nations, or UN, is an international organization with the intention of securing and enforcing peace. While its goals are noble, they rarely succeed, largely thanks to the dictatorial nature of most of its member states. In addition, it frequently acts contrary to the interests of its main source of revenue, the United States. As such, logic would suggest that the United States government should take its money and leave the UN, funding their own nation in instead.

If we are to judge an organization by its efforts to fulfill its original goal, the United Nations is almost certainly a massive failure. According to the UN Charter, the purpose of the institution, among other things, is to “reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small” (Charter of the United Nations). Countries such as Cuba, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, Qatar, Venezuela, Iraq, Egypt, Pakistan, and Indonesia, have all served on the UN Human Rights Council, and are member states that routinely violate human rights — we should also not forget that multiple French UN peacekeepers were found to have committed sexual abuse and pedophilia in the Central African Republic. However, to their credit, the UN authorities did take action when the crimes were revealed: They suspended the aid worker that leaked the story (Laville 1). Large UN member states do not seem to have much respect for small UN member states. For example, the United Nations has taken no action whatsoever to ensure Ukraine’s sovereignty in the face of Russian aggression. Why would they? Russia is not only in the UN, it is a permanent member on the Security Council. Likewise, China routinely abuses the rights of other nations as described by the UN’s own Convention on the Law of the Sea, and uses its permanent Security Council status to keep the Republic of China out of the UN, which becomes especially ridiculous when one considers that the Republic of China is one of the few free nations in the general Southeast Asia region. Clearly, the corruption inherent in letting tyrannies defend freedom prevents the UN from fulfilling its goals.

In addition to failing to uphold their initial objectives, the UN and its member states delight in attacking the US and its allies, especially Israel. While this is usually limited to “condemn[ing] in the strongest possible terms [the] serious violation of international law by Israeli forces” (Raghavan l), they occasionally go much further. For example, when the UN admitted to discovering 20 rockets hidden in one of their schools for Palestinian refugees, they promptly turned the weapons over to the proper officials- a local police force that is little more than a Hamas puppet (Rogin). There is a very good chance that these rockets soon found themselves traveling to the homes, synagogues, and schools of the Israeli populace. Arming terrorists seems to be an odd way of preserving world peace and freedom, but then again, the UN has highly trained geopolitical specialists that may tell you otherwise. What can Israel do about this? Nothing. After all, “the vote of one Jewish democracy can be cancelled out 21 times by the vote of 21 Arab dictatorships” (Gelernter 2). Israel is not the only small democracy the UN likes to stomp on — we have already looked at the sad cases of Ukraine and the Republic of China. They also like to oppose their chief benefactor, the United States; although much to their chagrin, the US is not easily stomped on.

For instance, Saddam Hussein used money from the UN Oil for Food Program to purchase missiles from France, which his forces then used to shoot down at least one American plane when the United States invaded Iraq in 2003 (Deseret News 1). Plus, the UN Security Council is frequently used as a tool to limit American power. According to Charles Duelfer of the CIA, the Russians and Chinese in particular “need a way of containing the United States, and the [UN] Security Council’s a tool for that” (Shawn 69). In a time of waning American power, it is even more important that we do not allow powerful dictatorships to use diplomatic procedures as handcuffs. These, combined with many other examples of the anti-American attitudes of the UN and its members, speaks loudly to the folly of being involved with the United Nations.

These facts should matter to every American. Citizens deserve some say in where their tax dollars go, and it is a fairly safe bet that most of us have no interest in shooting down American planes, funding rapists and their enablers, or handing rockets to radical Islamists. That is probably why only 38 percent of Americans think the UN does a good job (Gallup). As such, it would be best to leave the UN and never return. Perhaps it would be possible to support an alliance in pursuit of liberty and human rights, instead of supporting the cold adequacy of relative stability and limited warfare. This would be better for everyone, as it is “a well-established fact that democracies never go to war against each other” (Gelernter 2). It is well past time to get the US out of the UN and the UN out of the US.

Works Cited:

Atienza, Elias J. “Thomas Massie Leading Charge for ‘Amexit’ From the UN.” The Libertarian Republic. N.p., 28 June 2016. Web.

Gallup, Inc. “United Nations.” Gallup.com. N.p., n.d. Web.

Gelernter, Josh. “Let’s Take a Cue from Brexit and Leave the U.N.” National Review. N.p., 02 July 2016. Web.

Laville, Sandra. “UN Aid Worker Suspended for Leaking Report on Child Abuse by French Troops.” The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 29 Apr. 2015. Web.

“Preamble.” United Nations. United Nations, n.d. Web.

Raghavan, Sudarsan, William Booth, and Ruth Eglash. “The U.N. Is Accusing Israel of Breaking International Law with an Attack on a School in Gaza.” The Washington Post. WP Company, 30 July 2014. Web.

Rogin, Josh. “Did the United Nations Give Rockets to Hamas?” The Daily Beast. The Daily Beast Company, 20 July 2014. Web.

Shawn, Eric. The UN Exposed: How the United Nations Sabotages America’s Security and Fails the World. N.p.: Sentinel, 2006. Print.

“’Warthog’ Plane Shot down near Baghdad.” DeseretNews.com, Deseret News, 8 Apr. 2003, www.deseretnews.com/article/975417/Warthog-plane-shot-down-near-Baghdad.html.

Eric Lee is an opinion writer for 71 Republic.