Aid the United States Has Been One

¶ … Aid

The United States has been one of the most affluent countries of the world. Because of this fact, the country has established a history of providing aid and comfort to other groups around the world who are suffering because of economic, agricultural, or other turmoil for whatever reason, whether it be failure of government, war, or natural disaster. Some advocate that this is the rightful position of more wealthy countries and populations, to provide assistance to those who are less fortunate. This is certainly true to some extent. However, when a nation is in times of difficulty itself, like the United States is currently embroiled in, it is more important that the government provide aid to its own citizens than looking at what it can do outside the nation's borders. On an individual level, it would certainly be nice for wealthy persons to assist their fellow men and women but they are certainly not required to do so, by any means. Peter Singer states in "Famine, Affluence, and Morality" that the world's ills are everyone's problems and therefore everyone's responsibility. Jan Narveson writes in her article "We Don't Owe Them a Thing" that there are three types of aid which can potentially be given to others: reparation, helping, and dire need. Under each of these criterions there is a level of negative stigma attached to those who do not provide assistance, but again, there is absolutely no obligation to do so.

Reparation, according to Narveson, is only applicable when providing funds to "people we have previously harmed" (419). In cases of reparation, there may be legal or moral necessity to provide someone with funds in order to make up for the wrong that we have perpetrated against them. However this will have nothing to do with the current financial state of the person receiving the money or help. This is aid which could be legally required and for which the government could force a person to provide. On an international scale, there will be little cause for this type of aid unless there is a situation where two nations are at war and one side loses to the other, in which case the loser will be forced to pay reparation and restitution. Since the United States has not caused the harm of those in impoverished nations, it is not the responsibility of its people to heal these problems.

A secondary form of aid is what Narveson refers to as helping which are situations in which the life of the individual in need is not directly at stake. It is providing aid to another in a moderate way which although assisting another, does not permanently alter the way in which that person lives or works. Narveson advocates helping those in need despite cost, but understands that there is a difference between telling someone what they should do and what they must do.

The most necessary type of aid, dire need, is the form of aid that one most thinks of when discussing providing money or goods of some kind to others. These are cases "when putative recipients will die, say, or at least be pretty miserable, unless we or someone helps out" (Narveson 419). In these situations, the moral or ethical climate of a community may impress upon affluent members of that society the need to intervene on behalf of the welfare of another person or persons. Most of the Singer article has to do with this type of international aid. He speaks of the deaths of thousands of people from East Bengal due to lack of food, shelter, and medical care. Singer says, humans must "prevent what is bad, and to promote what is good" 229). His perspective is that not helping others is need is not a choice, but a failure to take on responsibility to our fellow humans simply because they are in another country or pledge allegiance to another flag. Human beings will usually help others who are in peril, such as when there is a car accident and you stop to check if people are alright and to call those who are equipped to help the persons. However, we are less likely to do so when the person who needs help is not our next door neighbor, when we can see from the news and other media that these people need assistance. It would be wonderful if those who could afford to help all the people of the world chose to do so, but there is nothing that forces a person to act on behalf of anyone but themselves.