I want to thank Rational Madman for this debate. May we find the truth.
I want to examine what is at stake with this topic. There are two ideals at war: Collectivism and Individualism. Collectivists declare that individuals should be dependent upon a central authority in order to deter unjust action, while Individualism’s defining ideal is that the Individual is best left to himself. I will champion the individual in this debate.
Law insider:“Government benefits means financial aid or services” (Citation 5)
As stated in the description, we will be debating the major government benefits listed on
https://www.usa.gov/benefits. These are the Food,Healthcare, Housing, and Financial Assistance measures as shown on the site.
In this opening round I will setup the general arguments for why Federal intervention in these areas is unjustified and a severe detriment to individual freedom.
The type of government assistance programs we know today are traceable to the creation of Bismarck’s Germany, beginning with the Prussians/Saxxons in the 1840s. (Citation 1) Othernations have adopted similar measures, such as the UK’s ”passing of the Old-AgePensions Act in 1908, the introduction of free school meals in 1909, the 1909Labour Exchanges Act.” (Citation 1)
The United States however didn’t begin its current practice until the Great Depression, where new emergency benefits and safety programs were issued. Further increases in scopewere made in the 60’s under the Great Society legislation, which pushedbenefits to include regular citizens (not just the elderly and disabled).
Currently our Federal Government is projected to spends 37% (2.966 trillion) of its budget on these Government Benefits, comprising of 1.151trillion on Social Security, 722billion on Medicare, $448 on Medicaid, and 645 billion on other benefits programs in 2021. (Citation 2)
This rounds out to$21,000 taken from each of the 140.9 million Tax Payers each year.
I believe that the individual is the fundamental building block of society, which must take precedence over the group identity. Uniquely America has allowed its people to thrive based on an emphasize that each person is their own captain, their own chauffeur,and that you as an individual, and only you, can use your talents to fulfill your purpose. It is no coincidence that suppressing individual autonomy leads to deterioration, Communism makes that case eerily clear, because it is your very human dignity that is taken. Understand that our very existence is being called into question. So be vigilant, that it is you and not an imposter that answers your call.
“To every individual in nature is given an individual property by nature not to be invaded or usurped by any. For every one, as he is himself, so he has a self-propriety, else could he not be himself” -Richard Overton
And so the individual is the very thing we must value before anything else, it is the highest valueof this debate.
Government benefits are socialist in nature, since their common defining goal is a redistribution of wealth. Socialism implies camaraderie, that a group of individuals freely back a cause together. Socialism, however, fatally ignores the competing free will of the individual for which the whole society is made up of. Individuals will necessarily be coerced to follow the lead of those in charge, removing any possibility of free choice by the individual. It is this false sense of “community” or “social fabric” that must be dispelled when we talk about the federal government.Washington D.C itself is made up of a group of individuals who decide a large part of our lives through our taxes. Government benefits make up a significant portion of this socialist policy.
a. Purpose Is To Protect Individual Rights
There are many things to which I think our Government should not have its grubby hands on, but Federal Benefits stands out as a sore thumb. Jefferson, one of our principle founders of the Constitution, said this about government’s role, “The purpose of government is to maintain a society which secures to every member the inherent and inalienable rights of man, and promotes the safety and happiness of its people. Protecting these rights from violation, therefore, is its primary obligation.” (Citation 3)
The Constitution Highlights these rights as, “life, liberty, or property” Under Amendment 14.(Citation 4)
b. Welfare Violates the dignity of the Individual
It does this in two ways:
-Takes choice
The government forces the direction of its citizens, limiting their choice. From these “benefits”Americans lose a fourth of their income. (average being $87,864) Money is work.Americans must now work 25% more to achieve their dreams, pay bills, compensate for disaster, and help their fellow Americans. (citation 7)
-Takes Life
-The government lives the lives of those taking benefits-whose existence is now tightly bound to the decisions of those politicians. They are therefore kept from using their gifts to achieve something greater, becoming a shell of what they could be.
Unfortunately, not only are people’s lives hindered, but bad choices are also subsidized. The failure to curb poverty is testament to this.
Let’s not let government live our lives and take our hard-earned labor. Instead we must stop preventing the poor from climbing their own ladder as we give them a helping hand with the extra time we have not paying self-serving bureaucrats. The trick played by the socialist is that socialism is justified because the individual is selfish. If this were true then government, composed by the smallest most power-hungry group of individuals, should be avoided at all cost. Government benefits are no different.
And so my friends, don’t let the name fool you. Government Benefits only benefit one thing: The government.
To Truth!
-logicae
Voting Issue: The Individual
a. Collective First Mentality
It is crucial that remember the individual is the highest good that most be protected at the maximum. Rational Madman agrees here as well, but argues against the individual. This is done by assuming the individual must be harmed by taking from his own life, in order to benefit others. This, however, is a collective mentality first, which must violate the individual. The impact is that the very idea of government benefits immediately violates this most important value.
b. Government Benefits Violate Individuality
Government benefits do not benefit the one being violated nor the one who is thought to be helped. The person stolen from loses the choice of what to do with a large portion of his own labor. Opportunities are taken from him, his own path forward made that much harder. The same is for those who are supposed to benefit from this. How do we harm the poor the most? By paying them to stay poor. (This is all too well known by the war on poverty here in the US). It is equally bad to take and subsidize against pursuing opportunity. The individual made to bend to the wishes of government. The only individuals not tampered with are the tampers, those on the top making the very decisions individuals should be making for themselves. When you scroll through life, remember that you are your final leader and that anyone attempting to replace you and decide for you what you do with your own efforts, are evil. No matter what they say they will achieve, they must not seek to replace you in your life.
Note to all: I just missed the deadline. Please see my final argument here:
“Underlining most arguments against the free market is a lack of belief in freedom itself” -Milton Freedmen
I want to touch on a few thing from Rational Madman's last post and then recap the debate.
Rebuttable:
“This debate was about government benefits in all nations”
Even though I originally intended to debate restricted to the US, my arguments can be applied to any country because it considers a matter of general truth. The United States remains a crucial example and is best understood by us Americans and so most relevant.
“Pro is now fighting a different case, saying that government benefits don't work, rather than that they are immoral.”
You can have both. I think things that are immoral also end in bad results.
“there is strong correlation between having elements of socialized care for the poor, in a mixed economy (that is fundamentally capitalist but with socialist elements that stop the poor 'rotting away with no help or safety net') and being high in many categories of national success.”
The key phrase here is “fundamentally capitalist.” In order to attribute the success of the western world to socialist policies, you must ignore the very foundation of freedom from which it relies. It is really the prosperity from the free market that you are praising, not the socialist policies that feed on it. Without the free market, there is no prosperity. But can you say the same without socialism? This is because, of course, that taking is not giving. You do not help your neighbor by stealing from his neighbor. Government benefits are exactly that, taking from some Americans and giving to a select few. It seems that this basic idea has been missed by Rational Madman, but I hope to hear about it in his closing remarks. I want to take a look back to contention 2:
Why not? :)
Why?
Hello RationalMadman! How are you these days?
It is U.S XD, I guess I assumed that one. Also you can defend, and attack, as general or specific as you wish. The floor is yours.
To Truth!
-logicae
Also are we only talking about US please clarify
Can you make the description say on net balance so pro doesn’t have to say every single benefit is amazing and awesome