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The Samaritan's Dilemma: Should Government Help Your Neighbor? Hardcover – July 1, 2008
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It wasn't always this way. For Americans who came of age shortly after World War II, politics was a field of dreams. Democracy promised to cure the world's ills. But starting in the late seventies, conservative economists promoted self-interest as the source of all good, and their view became public policy. Government's main role was no longer to help people, but to get out of the way of personal ambition. Politics turned mean and citizens turned away.
In this moving and powerful blend of political essay and reportage, award-winning political scientist Deborah Stone argues that democracy depends on altruism, not self-interest. The merchants of self-interest have divorced us from what we know in our pores: we care about other people and go out of our way to help them. Altruism is such a robust motive that we commonly lie, cheat, steal, and break laws to do right by others. "After 3:30, you're a private citizen," one home health aide told Stone, explaining why she was willing to risk her job to care for a man the government wanted to cut off from Medicare.
The Samaritan's Dilemma calls on us to restore the public sphere as a place where citizens can fulfill their moral aspirations. If government helps the neighbors, citizens will once again want to help govern. With unforgettable stories of how real people think and feel when they practice kindness, Stone shows that everyday altruism is the premier school for citizenship. Helping others shows people their common humanity and their power to make a difference.
At a time when millions of citizens ache to put the Bush and Reagan era behind us and feel proud of their government, Deborah Stone offers an enormously hopeful vision of politics.
- Print length304 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherBold Type Books
- Publication dateJuly 1, 2008
- Dimensions6.13 x 1.13 x 9 inches
- ISBN-101568583540
- ISBN-13978-1568583549
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"Quite frankly, I've never understood why it might be a bad idea to feed the hungry, heal the sick, and help the poor. But the next time I find myself in an argument with someone who believes that welfare and public education are ruining our society, and that universal health insurance will destroy our medical system, I will be very glad to have read (and to be able to quote) Deborah Stone's "The Samaritan's Dilemma," Beginning with the disturbing observation that most Americans' feelings about politics have become almost entirely divorced from their notions of kindness and obligation toward those in need, Stone's calm, logical, and immensely reassuring book dismantles the standard arguments against a more caring society ("Help makes people dependent") and persuades us that acts of charity and social responsibility actually make us stronger as individuals and better citizens of a democracy. She looks at examples of "everyday altruism"--from Meals on Wheels to family caregiving--and at the ways in which, over the last decades, our government has actively discouraged Americans from acting on their better impulses. Finishing "The Samaritan's Dilemma," you not only want to give the book to your neighbors and send it to your congressional representatives but may find yourself wishing that, when the time comes for our next president to assemble a cabinet, Deborah Stone could be appointed our first Secretary of Compassion."
About the Author
She has taught at M.I.T. and Brandeis University, and as a visitor at Yale, Tulane, University of Bremen, Germany, and National Chung Cheng University in Taiwan. Her essays have appeared in the Nation, the New Republic, Boston Review, Civilization, and Natural History. She has held fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and Harvard Law School, was a Phi Beta Kappa Society Visiting Scholar, and is now a Senior Fellow of Demos.
Product details
- Publisher : Bold Type Books; First Edition (July 1, 2008)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 304 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1568583540
- ISBN-13 : 978-1568583549
- Item Weight : 1.1 pounds
- Dimensions : 6.13 x 1.13 x 9 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #2,536,321 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #229 in Social Security (Books)
- #1,916 in Government Social Policy
- #3,348 in Social Services & Welfare (Books)
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The code of the Good Samaritan was simple: "Help when help is needed."
In The Samaritan's Dilemma, Should Government Help Your Neighbor, Deborah Stone shows that Gordon Gekko's ethos, and that of Milton Friedman and Ronald Reagan, stems from Malthus and Emerson at their worst. While Friedman and Reagan ushered us into the contemporary world; Malthus, Emerson, and a fear of communism led Herbert Hoover to believe that market forces would end the Great Depression and private charity would alleviate suffering. He was wrong.
However, Malthus' real argument, according to Stone, is less a scientific treatise on population and hunger and more a political tract that suggests that helping the poor brings on more poverty. Emerson confuses bonds of community with bondage. It's as if they read Jonathan Swift's "Modest Proposal", and thought he was serious.
Stone looks at where we are, how we got here, and where we need to go next. She outlines, and rebuts, "Seven Bad Arguments Against Help." She discusses what she calls "everyday altruism" and "The Samaritan Rebellion." The stories she relates can - and should - bring a tear to your eye - especially the accounts of the lives of people killed on September 11.
She shows that democracy is built on cooperation, and describes what might be called Hoover's Fear, and America's Folly, which is the path on which our government treads. "Unlike dictatorships and totalitarian forms of government, democracy requires citizens to participate in making laws and policies - to govern themselves."
Stone concludes that while most people believe that everyday altruism, volunteerism, and community service are outside the sphere of politics, this faith that people have the capacity to make a difference is integral to democracy and personal fulfillment. "Done right," she says, "government help strengthens democracy." The New Deal and the Great Society grew out of a sense of justice and fairness to correct visible inequalities of wealth and power. Ronald Reagan's Presidency and culture however, which has defined America since 1980 to the present, reverses the liberal, and liberating prescription. Rather than power, and assertiveness, the poor need tough discipline, to listen to authority, and to be submissive. After 30 years, it can be fairly established that Freidman's neoMalthusian principles, Reagan's beliefs, Hoover's fears have been America's folly.
Stone is really asking is what is the purpose of government and an economy? She answers:
* Jobs should pay a living wage,
* Jobs should allow workers to do their jobs and take care of their families,
* Government should supplement family care with publicly supported care.
This is like John Ehrenfeld, in "Sustainability by Design" defining "Sustainability" as "Flourishing ... Forever."
We need to take responsibility for our selves and our communities.