I am writing today to urge my fellow Maine residents to contact our members of Congress and ask them to pledge money and aid to developing nations in order to help them combat the coronavirus.
Over the past few months, the coronavirus has been all that we have seen, heard and talked about. The United States has more cases and deaths than any other nation in the world, and in many states, these numbers are skyrocketing. However, the United States is not an isolated nation; our own recovery is dependent on the recovery of every other country. We must take action.
First, despite being one of the wealthiest nations in the world, the United States provides a far smaller percentage of its annual budget to help impoverished countries than its peer nations. The European Union has recently agreed to pass a stimulus package worth over 20 billion euros to help countries in Africa, South America and Eastern Europe that have inadequate health care to combat the virus. The EU understands that the only way we will truly conquer the pandemic is if it is eradicated worldwide, not just in their individual countries. We cannot be the weak link amongst advanced nations when it comes to helping those in need.
Furthermore, our country’s economy cannot begin to rebuild if we are not trading with other nations. As other nations are completely consumed with fighting the pandemic and their own economies begin to collapse, we are losing those with whom we obtain resources from and sell products to. We are no longer the autonomous, self-sufficient nation that we were a century ago, and we cannot wait until their economies are in deep depressions to recognize that.
Sophie van Leeuwen
Lewiston
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