[rrpjr]

Interesting how the conjunction of "America" and "great" often evokes scorn.

I believe the gist of the piece was the breadth and depth of contributions from different sections of the American culture. Yes, it is impressive to see what drug companies are contributing (though I don't expect any recantation of Noam Chomsky’s governing law of "corporate evil" anytime soon). As for the numbers, nice to note the competitive parsing down to pennies, but I believe such computations should probably wait. We are, after all, still counting bodies. In the end, I'm confident America's generosity (no matter who is in the White House, believe it or not), will measure up admirably. In addition, these numbers do not account for the full range of our material aid, such as helicopters off aircraft carriers and other redeployments of men and material).

In any case, I'm not sure about the logic of our "responsibility." Why does it follow that being the lone superpower obliges us the most? I think a reasonable argument can be made that the lone burden of super-powering, of restoring and protecting freedom for millions of oppressed people around the world at no small cost of blood and treasure (which many on the Left often remind us) might relieve rather than compound America's financial “obligation” here. Perhaps this is really the moment for those wealthy nations who contribute nothing to the hard struggle for freedom around the world to take the lead in an entirely different kind of struggle. Must we bear all burdens?