This is the very danger of atheism and the belief that humans are just another animal. Fact of the matter is if humans behave like animals the human race will collapse. Their has to be a moral basis in society that which was provided by the Abrahamic faiths largely Christianity. The idea of looking out for yourself and not valuing those around you will lead to Doomsday.
Lets explain why the US Government and other democratic Governments need to try and limit poverty. From a non-ethical basis.
A- The poor people make up a huge part of the population. They are the ones who will work for pennies and keep the economy running. Supporting some who can't find employment ensures you have a work force in the future.
B- Crime rates, if you let such a huge portion of the population starve and go hungry they will turn to crime to get their needs met. They won't simply die in a corner they will go down fighting. This means robberies of all sorts the rich people who are supposedly the strong will see their wealth pillaged.
C-Votes, the poor make up a huge population and if your party wants to win an election and rule the country then it needs the support of the middle and lower class. The ones who are being supported by welfare will vote for you and keep you in office. To stop welfare would mean you would never be elected again. So the only way to do so would be to suspend democracy and find a way for the poor not to have a say in Government.
D- Strongest survive right? Well all those brains and all the brawn in the world isn't going to protect you from millions upon millions of angry citizens. The best and most well equiped army in the world could not control the United States if the poor in the country rose up and over threw the Government. It would be like Arab spring the people would capture or kill the wealthy and the Government would be defeated. The mighty US army would be brought to its knees. Then anyone taking control would need to bring stability and money to the poor if they failed they too would be toppled. The cycle would go on and on and the western world would fall into chaos.
E-The world has an image of the US and other European countries as actually caring about their citizens and the people of other countries. If America turned on its citizens and had an uprising another country would gladly come in and take over. The US Government could not control its people or its enemies it would collapse.
But thats just addressing why a democracy can't remove all social services. A dictator would need to crack down with an iron fist and commit horrible acts of genocide in order to even have a chance at cutting social services completely and maintaining power. All rights of all citizens would need to be retracted and communism would have to be introduced.
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Now lets address this whole humans should be treated as animals thing. Well buddy in many countries the poor unemployed rose up and slaughtered the wealthy. If you want to treat others like animals expect them to return the favor and I can guarantee it won't end good for you.
All the laws we currently follow would fall apart if we were to treat every other human as an animal. You could say you'd get followers and establish rule of law for your own benefit. But guess what, your followers would be waiting for any chance they could to knock you off and take your place. Then there are all the other leaders who would garner followers they would all be after what ever wealth you have to maintain their followers. If they failed to appease their followers they too would be bumped off.
So you would be worried every day of those who follow you and your enemies. Their would be no such thing as loyalty because everyone is out for themselves. You fail to deliver to your followers and soon you won't have any if you still are alive. Without followers you become the weakest link and die off.
Remember if we are to behave like animals and drop any belief that humans are in any way superior. Society will collapse the whole world would collapse. Eventually leaders would have to turn back to the morals laid out in the Bible whether directly or indirectly. They would need to establish rule of law and create a moral basis that would protect their interests.
It would end up with the value of human life coming back. Without it the whole world would collapse. A good example would be "Book of Eli" that is what would happen to the world.
-JC7
"In God We Trust - In Games We Play " - Joel Reimer
