Dear bkuehlhorn,

Thank you for taking the time to read my work and for sharing your thoughts on the subject.

I would suggest that just as America has been a force for good (in general), globally, it has also helped to prop up dictators in countries across the world.

According to Freedom House’s rating system of political rights around the world, there were 49 nations in the world, as of 2015, that can be fairly categorized as “dictatorships.”

As of fiscal year 2015, the last year for which we have publicly available data, the federal government of the United States had been providing military assistance to 36 of them, courtesy of American dollars.

While it may well be that governments have uses for national currencies — their propensity to be misused far outweighs what benefits they provide.

Yours,

Patrick