The Welfare State and Moral Irresponsibility :: Argumentative Persuasive Topics

The Welfare State and Moral Irresponsibility    President Bush has declared the fourth week of April to be National Volunteer Week. This is a follow-up to his call for all Americans to do two years of community service during their lifetimes, and his creation of the new federal USA Freedom program to pay volunteers and to encourage service. But should we all really rush out to man the ladles at the nearest soup kitchen? Is such service really good for America?    Let's start by clarifying some moral confusion. The measure of our moral worth is not how much we give to others but rather to what extent we hold our own lives as our highest value and take the responsibility for our lives. That standard requires us to set goals that will contribute most to our survival and well being, and to create the means to attain those goals. It requires honesty, integrity, self-discipline, and fortitude in the face of self-destructive indulgences that distract us from our long-term happiness.    If more people lived by this standard, there would be little need for volunteers to help others. Each of us would earn our own way, support our own families, take pleasure from our own friends, and take care of our own needs. We owe our fellow citizens respect for their rights and freedom. We do not owe them a living.    Of course, there are good self-interested reasons for helping others in such a society. In the case of the September 11th terrorist attacks that murdered 3000 innocent people, we as individuals took it upon ourselves to make right an injustice, generously contributing a billion dollars to help the victims with whom we rightly sympathized. It's also in our self-interest to live in a society with other independent, productive, and creative citizens, so we can exchange material goods and ideas with one another, share challenges and experiences, rejoice in the achievement of others, and have our own achievements recognized. To that end we as individuals might help a poor but worthy student pay for college, or we might help others who suffer through unforeseen emergencies or circumstances, such as a serious illness. We might even help those who suffer through some fault of their own, for example, through the use of drugs or other irresponsible choices, if we judge that those individuals a re trying to mend their ways.