The recent tsunami that hit Asia, costing over one hundred thousand human lives, is certainly a tragedy. Some people have accused the US of being stingy in its aid for the victims, as if the American government is (or should be) the only American donor of aid. In fact, the American people habitually give far more in aid than does our government. Moreover, the American government cannot be said to be generous nor can the aid it gives be considered charity, for we cannot consider it generosity or charity to steal money from some people in order to give it to others (for the government gets all of its revenue from taxation, borrowing, and inflation). Foreign aid, insofar as it is synonymous with government handouts, is immoral and unjust. True charity is that given out of generosity; i.e., given out of voluntary initiative by private individuals and groups.
For further discussion on this subject, see the posts by David J. Heinrich (“WSJ’s Taranto Slanders Ayn Rand Institute“) and Chris Matthew Sciabarra (“The Privatization of Foreign Aid“) over at the Mises blog. See also here, here, here, and here at the LRC blog.
Highly relevant quote: “The state is that great fiction by which everyone tries to live at the expense of everyone else.” – Frederic Bastiat (1801-1850)
Geoffrey is an Aristotelian-Libertarian political philosopher, writer, editor, and web designer. He is the founder of the