The Tyranny Of Foreign Aid

An excerpt from the full article:

What is generosity? Perhaps it's best philosophical treatment is found in Aristotle’s “Nichomachean Ethics”, which holds that when generous persons give appropriate things in proper measure at the best times in proper ways and for the appropriate reasons, they do so for the sake for what is divinely beautiful. Generosity, therefore, is a human excellence, and those who develop it as a habit excel as humans. Accordingly, generosity cannot tyrannize.

What is tyranny? Perhaps its most authoritative treatment is found in Aristotle’s “Politics”, which states that tyrants tend to arise when the same person becomes leader of both the people and the military, and then disregards the common interest of his own people unless it happens to coincide with his own. Aristotle asserts that of all forms of government, tyranny is the most dangerous to its subjects, since tyrants make it their purpose to accumulate wealth and to undermine the excellence of others, all of whom they see as rivals. A tyrant is thus incapable of generosity.

It is not always easy or appropriate to be generous. Every decision we make influences the choices and life circumstances of others. When we engage in political activism, we seek to sway public opinion. Organizations for which we volunteer do not always meet our best expectations. Even our purchasing decisions exert influence over the employment opportunities of others. Each choice entails its own set of risks. We are, as Aristotle declared, social and political creatures, bound tougher in a complex socio-political tapestry rendering us responsible to and for each other; meaning that we are always implicitly shaping one another’s lives.

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