Can you imagine being born with every privilege the world has to offer and also feeling a victim your whole life?

Can you imagine using great power to disenfranchise the most vulnerable people in society?

"Can you imagine being the most powerful individual alive and being afraid of the weakest people on earth?"

I cannot. But sadly, I do not have to imagine it.

You, me, and the entire world are watching an entitled man-child, who is the literal embodiment of everything that is wrong with our society lose his mind over a handful of desperate people seeking asylum in our country. Trump is trying to literally shut down our southern border to prevent migrants fleeing horrific violence, who are grasping at the hopes of a better life for themselves and their children from entering our country; legally.

Take a moment to think about this situation from Trump's point of view. Take a moment to think about how petty and fearful you would have to be to act the way he is acting. Then realize this petty, fearful, horrible human being sits in the highest elected office in the land. He is our representative to the world.

American power? The republican party is the literal embodiment of the elephant afraid of a mouse. Not just with regards to immigrant and asylum seekers, but a host of other issues: healthcare, military power, diplomacy, monetary policy, investment in education, infrastructure, proper environmental and fiscal regulation, etc. You name it, the GOP is the party of fear.

“Is there a duty to help those who are suffering?” Phrased in a less compelling way, “Are you obligated to help a person or group of people who are suffering?” I answer this philosophical question in the comments section of "What is ethics" on EthicsDefined.org

The answer to the question of, "Does the USA bear responsibility for the situation in South America and should be help the desperate people seeking asylum?" is a resounding yes.

Our situation is beyond embarrassing. We are living in an dark moral climate; fueled by right wing fears. Ethics is founded on how we as individuals and a society internalize notions of harm/care and fairness/reciprocity. Let's take the South American asylum seekers as an example.

The US started its disastrous "war on drugs" in the 1970's. The outlawing of recreational drugs created the illicit drug trade, and all of the evils associated with it. In the book, "The Better Angles of our Nature," Steven Pinker discusses how a state monopoly on violence and justice (via the police and the courts) leads to less violence. Where people lack the ability to call the cops and appeal to a 3rd party justice system, then the violence we see associated with the drug trade will naturally occur.

Our drug policies over the past 50-years, combined with our gun policies have literally torn South America part.

"LATIN America boasts just 8% of the world’s population, but it accounts for 38% of its murders. The number of criminal killings in the region came to around 140,000 people last year, more than have been lost in wars around the world in almost all of the years this century. And the crime is becoming ever more common." - Economist

The US could reverse this downward cycle of murder and violence by legalizing drugs. Prohibition against alcohol in the 1920's lead to violent gangs in the US, lifting the prohibition pretty much destroyed the ilegal marketplace and eliminated the crime associated with it. Legalizing drugs in America would radically transform not just South America, but also other regions around the globe like Afghanistan, where drugs finance the Taliban.

You do not need to be an expert in world politics, history, the legal system, drug policy, or human nature to understand how legalizing drugs in the US would positively impact the world; and rapidly. Virtually overnight, the US could eliminate the necessity of most of the worlds illegal trade. We could reduce crime here and throughout a large portion of the world exponentially. We could reduce the prison population to a fraction of what it is today. The positive impacts of the US legalizing drugs would be profound.

The revenue from legal drugs could fund healthcare, education, infrastructure, etc. Legalizing drugs is no brainer. An added benefit for the xenophobic inspired among us is legalizing drugs would stem the flow of asylum seeking to the US.

Legalizing drugs in the US = less violence in South America = less asylum seekers. It's easy math. It's also the right things to do.