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Originally Posted by sleepyjeff
When you see someone in trouble do you help them?
Why?
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Honestly? It depends. But, I also don't have the time or resources to help people efficiently. I can't tell who has already been helped and who didn't know how to or was uncomfortable asking for help. And, honestly, why should I be the one to help? Why, when I'm struggling to pay rent here and a mortgage back home, should I help, when there are people in big shiny houses using $100 bills as coasters? I'd like to say that I'd give the shirt off my back to anyone in need, but realistically I won't. I might if I knew you, but no, I don't just wander about handing out money to people who need it.
And I'll tangent here to say that I have issues with the initial analogy. Lawn mowing is not quite the "essential" task I'm concerned about. That particular task I do think is better handled at a community level. But what about the rent? The medical bills? Is it more realistic to expect the her doctor to provide free medical care out of a sense of human compassion or to collect funds from everyone to pay for medical care of similiarly situated individuals?
I'm not disputing that many individuals have altruistic leanings, but working as individuals is inefficient and ineffective.
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So basically, you trust the government more than the people?
I am not trying to put words in your mouth, I am just aksing for clarification. I realize you are actually giving me thoughtful responses and I thank you for that.
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In this situation, yes. And I realize that this is the fundamental point on which we will differ. It's not that I think people are essentially bad, but I think people have a fundamental desire to shirk responsibility. And maybe that's just me projecting my own failings onto the world around me, but in a society as spread out as ours has become, it's easy to convince one's self that someone else will clean up the messes.
Perhaps in a different time, I would have had a different response. If our world was still more community-oriented and we knew our neighbors and there would be a real social shaming of those who skipped out on their share of the community support I would choose to trust people over the government. (Still, even then I would view the social pressures to provide charity as the required coercive factor.) And if "the church" were an inclusive organzation to which all belonged and which did not discriminate in its selection of charity recipients, perhaps I would concur that "the church" was the right venue for charitable giving. But it's not, and and therefore of the options open to me I choose the government. Also, although it is an organization made up of people, I have greater hope that the government can improve its effectiveness than that human nature will become less responsibility-adverse.