AIDS expenditures and Nation States

[Cali Coug]

Originally Posted by Archaea

I do not extend personal responsibilities to that of nation states. Personal ethos should not be transferred en masse to nation states. This appears to me to be presumptuous, not looking at a more sophisticated manner in which nation states have traditionally interacted and probably will always interact.

Nation states usually do NOT act altruistically. I am aware of very few instances, usually one blow deals, where that has been done.

The only nation of which I have read that has acted altruistically, has been the US, under things like the Marshall Plan, although one might argue it furthered the self-interest by having a strong Western Europe.

Anybody who wants to postulate a role of altruism for nation states is charmingly naive.

Christ spoke to the individual, he did not give political advice, other than to render unto Ceasar's that which is Ceasar's. Anybody going further than that is extrapolating more than they should from his teachings.

You are trying to rephrase the entire debate. We aren't talking about whether it is POSSIBLE to act altruistically (since the answer should be entirely obvious given that this nation and others give away trillions of dollars a year to impoverished countries), we are talking about whether we should ASPIRE to act altruistically. For some reason, you have indicated that we should not even attempt to act altruistically as a nation and that you get angry when people seek to do so.

In a Democracy, the will of the people represents the direction of the government. For us, our individual perceptions very much influence the ability of the nation to act altruistically. Christ counseled that we should treat others in a certain way. Fortunately, many Americans understand that message and work to pool our collective resources for the benefit of others. What I can't understand is why a person with as much knowledge about the gospel like yourself would then try to stand in the way of that process.

Your anger, it appears, stems not from what the nation is doing as a whole but from the fact that your personal taxes are being spent in faraway lands. As an INDIVIDUAL who has been counseled to assist others, wouldn't the use of your tax money to cure Africans of AIDS be something you would be proud of?