I voted YES, but if we could get Bill Gates to fund it that would be even better. But yes, given the choice between funding PEPFAR with tax dollars and people dying of AIDS, I pick funding PEPFAR.

I don't even need to know what PEPFAR is to answer this.

@skibidist :-/

@skibidist because you're against all centralised government right?

@TheAllMemeingEye Initially, yes... Having now learned what it is though, not sure why it is US government's duty to take care of the public health in "50 countries around the world". In many of which people seem to chant 'death to America' whenever they can.

@skibidist a few relevant Uncle Ben / Peter Parker quotes in order of increasing verbosity

With great power comes great responsibility

If you have the power to help others, then you have a moral obligation to do so

If you can stop bad things happening, but you don't, then it's kinda like those bad things happened because of you

@TheAllMemeingEye I mean, anyone who cares about this stuff is free to associate with others who care about this stuff and found a charity for it. But there is nothing moral about forcing others who may or may not care about this stuff to contribute, especially not under the threat of violence via taxes.

"Every dollar we spend will be aligned with the national interest of the United States. USAID has a history of ignoring that and deciding that they're a global charity. These are not donor dollars, these are taxpayer dollars."

@skibidist The US Secretary of State shares my view.

Do you mean relative to what the US would likely otherwise spend it on IRL or relative to what we would ideally spend it on?

@TheAllMemeingEye Former.