America and  Haiti

There are two countries for which this event is critical. Obviously the first is Haiti, the poorest country in the Western hemisphere, with  a history of weak governance, oppression, poverty and suffering. Now more or less everything has gone including effective government. When the rescue is complete, the tens, now apparently hundreds, of thousands are buried and the millions fed and sheltered a complete fresh start will be needed. This should be an opportunity to lift these brave and suffering people up to a different level.

The other country is richest.  The United States. For a while now the reputation of the U.S abroad has been at the lowest level in its whole history. Some of this aprobrium is unfair. Much is not and most is its own fault. Americans like things to be simple. They also like things in absolutes. Goodies and baddies. America the righteous. Only democracy can deliver. America is never at fault. America can do as it likes.

As anyone who is acquainted with individual Americans or has travelled in that vast country and enjoyed the unusual warmth of the hospitality of its people will know, this desire to simplify everything and make it uncomplicated, sells America short. Life, the world, governance and other culture’s values are not just a list of either or. There are nuances, subtleties, bits of good and bits of bad in combination everywhere in everything.

But in Haiti now the issues are stark and simple. Life and death. Help or abandon. These are the issues dear to the heart of every American. Now the world can see America on show at its very best. Its might and power not for conquest and control  but to uplift and empower. China gained huge respect worldwide for the efficiency of its response to its own terrible earthquake. America can  now reverse the tide of criticism and show that it can use its power to rescue then rebuild a shattered nation. The lives and future prospects of the traumatised Haitians depend upon it rising to the challenge. If it does it will once again enjoy the authority in the world it has so recklessly squandered during the hapless years of Bush and the neo-cons.