Till this day the debate continues as to what exactly a society should freely provide for its citizens. There is much gridlock between opposing ideologies about welfare, food stamps, and other programs that help to provide for the poor. While these programs require attention and should be addressed, I am going to address something similar, but with a different twist.
Imagine a society where there was no such thing as food stamps, welfare, or anything like that. In this particular society, you had to buy your own food, and the government was not going to provide that for you. There were people that died in this society from starvation, but there were also a lot of positives. Because of the fear of death, many of the people in this society worked. They worked because they knew they had to work in order to survive, in order for their family to survive.
Now suppose a society where the basic needs of an individual are provided; food, shelter, and water. There are programs such as welfare and simple government housing projects with running water. There were many people that lived in poverty in this society, many people that struggled with poverty.
What is the difference between these two societies? One provides for the poor the basic needs of life, and the other does not. The simple question here is, should a society provide for the basic needs of its people? Certainly we do not want a society where people are dying from starvation. But we also do not want a society that has become dependent on the government. A balanced solution must be reached.
Most everyone has heard of the saying "Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, feed him for a lifetime." I believe this is the way a society should look at this problem. Sure, provide for the basic needs of a people, but in doing so, teach these people how to provide for themselves. Otherwise, you are doing them a great injustice in creating dependency. In a free society, one of the worst things to be as a individual, in my opinion, is to be dependent on someone else. Because when you are dependent on someone else, you cannot be reach your full potential. There will come a time when we are dependent on other people, just as we are dependent on our parents. But to stay in this state of life for an extended amount of time should not be desirable in a society.
Therefore, I highly condone the provision of basic needs by a society, with one major stipulation. That the society teach people how to provide for themselves.
I agree a lot with what you are saying. I think that society should provide the basic needs for people but also teach people how to provide for themselves. Over the summer, when I was living and working in Ghana, I worked for a small micro-finance firm. This firm, through an organization called KIVA, gave out loans to small business owners. However, in order to receive a loan you had to be part of a group that would meet once a week in the community. During these group sessions, loan officers would teach the women and men of the group about finances, health, and general principles about how to succeed as business owners. In addition, each the members of the group had to pay back part of their loan, with interest, and in addition save a certain percentage of money for the future. If someone did not pay back their loan, the money was taken from their savings or the whole group had to pay it back for them. It was amazing because these women and men began to see the value in money and the value in planning for the future. Most of the members had never seen so much money, but yet they had to budget and make sure they were able to make repayments, pay interest, be able to save, and have enough money to feed their families. It is incredible because I think this idea follows your “teach a man to fish, feed him for a lifetime.” These men and women are learning how to budget, how to pay a loan back, and learning about the real life consequences that come if they do not meet their obligations. It has done wonders for the community, and I wish we had a microfinance programs like it in America. Therefore, after my experience in Ghana, I think that a society in which we provide the basic needs for people, but also keep them responsible and teach them how to succeed, could work and would be good for the society as a whole.
ReplyDelete-Rosemary Sirois