United States' Role in International Disasters

In mid-January, a 7.0 earthquake hit Haiti, creating a human toll that should never be imagined. The earthquake demolished much of the poverty-stricken country. President Obama has pledged that the United States will donate $100 million to the relief effort, which has caused a stir in the political world. Many people believe with all the problems that we are having internally, why would we donate so much money to a country in which does not even help us never the less effect us? Is it just a political move in order to get the world back on our side after the unpopular wars in Afghanistan and Iraq? The question that should be asked though is why did we not donate more?

One of the most ridiculous arguments I've been exposed to is that the United States did not even promise that much aid to the victims of Katrina in New Orleans, when in fact the Bush Administration promised well over $100 billion dollars, billion not million. In the sense of our GDP $100 million to Haiti is peanuts to us. Actors and actresses and athletes have also been promoting the relief efforts, such as Madonna, Sandra Bullock, and Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. All of the money is going to help rebuild and medicate the people in Haiti and give them a fighting chance in a world that does not let up when something so devastating happens to you.

Why should the United States get involved though? The United States is the lone super power in the world today, there is no Soviet Union and China just simply is not on the level of the United States, yet. As the lone super power it is the responsibility of the United States Government to act as a big brother to the rest of the world and commit ourselves to help the rest of the world in the face of things outside of their power and control. Like it or not, with great power comes great responsibility. Yes, the government does have a responsibility to help their own people and probably even before the rest of the world, but Haitians are third biggest minority group in the United States, most have come directly from Haiti as well. The United States is not a nation of homogenous people, but rather we are a mixture of pretty much every nation throughout the world. We are a country of the world. We are the super power. When a natural disaster happens we need to act as if it had happened in our own country.