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An Introductory Note from Deborah Stone
Most people don't consider it a dilemma whether to help a stranger in need. We just do it. We've all hesitated about giving money to a panhandler, of course, but most of the time, when we see someone suffering, we stop to help. Yet many people don't think that government should help people in need.
I wondered why there's such a disconnect between our personal morality and our public philosophy--what we think our government owes to our neighbors. I set to expose this contradiction. I wrote The Samaritan's Dilemma for three reasons: to reset the public moral compass, to restore faith in government and to imagine what politics could be if it were based on altruism instead of self-interest.
I'm a baby boomer, which means I grew up in the shadow of World War II. The U.S. had just beaten back totalitarianism, then turned around to help our enemies rebuild themselves. No wonder, then, that during the 1950s and 1960s, we were taught that government is a very helpful thing, that democracy is the best form of government, and that the U.S. had the very best democracy in the world. Even with a few grains of salt, this view of government meant that getting involved in politics was noble. To be a good person, you also had to be a good citizen.
Things changed dramatically when Ronald Reagan became president in 1980. In his inaugural address, at the very moment when he became the top leader of this great democracy, he declared, "Government is not the solution to our problems; government is the problem." Conservatives have been bashing government ever since, dismantling public programs and privatizing as much government responsibility as possible.
I wrote this book to restore my own faith in the quest for social justice, freedom and equality through government, and to inspire others by reminding us all of America's promise.
I've been teaching for almost thirty years now, and over that time, the academic picture of human nature has gotten more and more depressing. Human beings are supposedly self-interested to the core. Even when we help other people, we have ulterior motives. There's no such thing as altruism, acting for the benefit of others instead of ourselves. Getting ahead for Number One is what life's all about.
This is not the world I live in. We are born needing help, we die needing help, and we spend our days getting and giving help. People help because they believe no one is truly independent, and because they care about others. Our self-interest is hopelessly intertwined with the well-being of others.
We've been so brainwashed with the idea of self-interest that we've lost our ability to recognize altruism in ourselves and others. I wrote this book partly as a "field guide" to everyday altruism. Once we recognize what a strong and wonderful force altruism is, we can harness it as an engine of democracy.
--Deborah Stone