BeIR/webis-touche2020 huggingface dataset:
The government’s inefficiency

First of all, there is a flaw in criticizing the efficiency of the govt. in its social welfare policies. Many of a country’s functions are considered the govt.’s responsibility for the very reason for being “inefficient. Labor laws, health regulations, environmental guidelines, and energy are all, in the typical one-dimensional sense “inefficient”. They are however guided under the jurisdiction of the govt. because they set safeguard standards for the benefit of the public. Regardless of the profits lost, production limited, such govt. implementations make modern social benefits and functions that reach a nation-wide scope possible. The same goes with welfare policies. The standard, blanket policies of the govt. has its own aspects that make it essential, because it is the only body that can. While charities do have the special capability of caring for a single tree, none have the financial power or the geographic scope to take the entire forest into consideration. No charity or group of charities can compete with the financial muscle and the widespread scope of a govt. policy. With individual attention, charities trade off outreach. As much as fixing problems one by one for the sake of the long-term is valuable, people nation-wide need immediate help maintaining their everyday livelihood. This is one thing charities can never fulfill. The US is bad example , its system is undoubtedly flawed, but that signals a failure of mechanism not of the concept. Modern welfare states like Sweden, Denmark, or Finland have shown the Nordic model in which a redistribution taxation policy makes them few of the best places to live in the world and also some of the nations with the lowest levels of poverty. This system cannot be generalized to all nations but their success is not the product of any charity group. The affirm's criticism calls for, if anything, welfare refrom, not responsibility allocation.
[Response to rebuttal] Suitability: Government has essential macro-view(scale&scope), and IS better organized, better funded.

1. “endowing responsibility to gov...” No, the assumption here is that removal of gov actions will increase charitable actions’. Again, we’re for the mechanisms that encourage charities, we’re against those that hamper them - namely, the giving of financial aid. Our motion puts greater emphasize on tax breaks at the cost of gov financial aid. 2. “Also for gov what comes with wide SCOPE...” Yes, gov can tackle disasters better, but this debate is about the poor, not disasters. This claim fits exactly with our stance - gov should act in the extreme cases of harmed rights, not in the day-to-day details of poverty. 3. “Americans would have to make at least 10 times...” Yes, but if they’ll give just three times the amount (which is likely, as we’ve explained), then the actual money reaching the poor will be more than they currently receive, since gov’t has so much overhead. More than that, even less money would still lead to better results due to smarter usage of it. Americans contribute more than $300 billion a year to organized private charities and volunteer more than 8 billion hours a year to charitable activities, which can be valued at about $158 billion. Thus when given the choice, people entrust their donations to private charities not the government[[http://tinyurl.com/3dteydz]] 4. “During economic hardship...” not only then, but whenever there’s political change. Welfare is a very popular budgetary punching bag, since none of its dependants operate lobbyists. Again, Opp is mistaking total gov budget with specific welfare budget. 5. “90% of charity funds are collected AND spent locally...” Yes, that is exactly what we claim - today donors feel that the people elsewhere are ok, due to gov aid, so they only worry about the suffering they see. We need to fight this idea, and increase social responsibility outside of local communities - and that’s done by removing the illusionary safety of gov’s inefficient aid.
What the governmental machine can’t, society through charities can

Repeating the same arguments in different words do not create a new argument. Without responding to our rebuttals, Prop’s baseless assertion is meaningless. 1. We stated modern govt in capitalism 4.0 has more duty, which was accepted during progressive era, New Deal, and 60s civil rights movements and embedded in many states’ constitutions: individual rights can be restricted for welfare. We stated poverty is a societal problem because equal opportunity doesn’t exist. Thus we are confused as to which part Prop can’t understand when it says “gov…designed to protect…basic rights.” Where is the boundary of “basic rights” that equal opportunity essential for the system is not a topic? Individuals have different opinions in the extent of govt role—that’s why we have left and right—but minimalist govt model is not an option in this century. The public may decide the extent by voting for a certain candidate UNDER the premise of fundamental need for substantive help to the poor. At the same time, people know better than to have govt become a communist. Extrematization attack is cheap. 2. Public complacence—did Prop read 2nd rebuttal at all? 3. Inefficiency—3rd rebuttal. Govt aid reaches out to several millions of people who need financial assistance—as it did in the past. Looking at improvements in the poor’s conditions from industrialization, how can Prop assert govt failed? Also, it’s natural that procedural bulk increases with entity size. Large charities handle similar amounts of procedural bulk as govts; think of intricate hierarchy of the Church. Note that red tape also makes govt less susceptible to corruption. Public scrutiny for charities is insufficient to dig up the dark secrets covered in the honorable image and impenetrable hierarchy. Yet it’s appallingly unfortunate, contrary to Prop’s belief, that people, in most cases still make donations because the sacred image is too overwhelming for them to criticize charities l
Proposition Summary & Conclusion

Obviously, it’s imperative that society work toward breaking the ruthless cycle of poverty. Two questions remain: what is gov’s mandate to its poor citizens, and what’s the most effective way to break this cycle? Prop has shown that gov is not impelled to give financial aid, rather to protect citizens’ rights. Furthermore, we showed that charities provide the best tailored solution to individuals’ problems, but hindered by aid from the faceless indiscriminate gov. GOV MANDATE: We’ve shown why govs should stick to ensuring basic rights (health care, education, safety, freedom). These rights are provided and protected WITHOUT financial aid, but rather through other existing systems. Opp vaguely argued that the poor need more rights than these however failed to mention what these are or how they are addressed by receiving gov cash. Opp gave a generic “gov should fix society” argument, exemplifying a view of society in which gov dictates imposing, top-down policies. We’ve shown that govs should allow society to improve itself, especially as society does so better. Indeed, Opp’s examples in this debate were in fact paradigms of govs enabling pre-existing social change. Thus, they support OUR claim that govs should simply facilitate socially driven change, taking care not to hinder it - in this case by ceasing its harmful “aid” machine & giving more tax breaks towards charities. Govs should support charities, not supersede them. EFFECTIVENESS: There are soup kitchens for the hungry and shelters for the homeless, but beyond these simple needs, each poor person is different. Some need money, some education, and some just the incentive to find work. This is no job for bureaucracy. Gov is bound to operate by a set of generalized criteria that can be followed by every gov bureaucrat. This machine is effective in some instances, but isn’t suited to financial aid for the poor because -as both sides agree- we need tailored solutions that govs inherently can’t supply. Indeed, even Opp conceded that gov treatment is problematic. Opp’s premise is that the poor make the best use of the money given them. This doesn’t reflect reality, where financial aid is misused. Their proposed solution is to add MORE regulation to a system already consuming 70% in overheads - a figure far higher than private charities. THUS: Gov throwing money at the poor is unnecessary, inefficient, and doesn’t break the cycle of poverty. Charities’ mandate is to tailor solutions, monetary or other, and make sure the money is spent well to provide the best possible aid. To quote Pope John Paul II: “By intervening directly and depriving society of its responsibility, the Social Assistance State leads to a loss of human energies and an inordinate increase of public agencies, which are dominated more by bureaucratic ways of thinking than by concern for serving their clients”. [[http://is.gd/BiOePA]]
Direct financial aid is better than pre-defined programs

We have 3 reasons for such belief: 1. Financial aid fosters economic autonomy; 2. is less morally degrading; 3.better serves diverse individual needs and therefore is more efficient Let’s start with the first reason. Problem with pre-defined programs is that they leave no room for independent decisions of the recipients. The recipients are forced to accept what they are given regardless of their individual preferences or needs. For a person to become economically independent, he has to learn to manage his income. Financial aid is conducive to such independency because it only provides the raw material (money) which the recipient then has to figure out how to use it. While there may be mistakes, it is through such trial and error that people learn. In contrast, if gov. provides pre-defined goods it will only result in the poor becoming ever more dependent on gov. Financial aid is also linked to encouragement of entrepreneurship. Many people often have ideas to form their own income source (private businesses, farming etc.) but fail to do so b.c. of lack of seed money. Financial aid will esp. be helpful in such cases. Difference btw. Prop. and Opp. is one side advocates for expenditure while the other supports investment. The money spent providing food and clothes are pure expenditures, nothing comes out of them and the costs can never be recovered. However, if we provide direct financial aid so that poor develop economic autonomy and grow out of poverty, then the money spent are investments with worthy results. For financial aid to achieve such success there will have to be strict criteria that allow gov. to select those who have both the economic motive and capability to pull themselves out of poverty. While this debate does not call for a specific policy model, conditions such as personal record that indicate active search for job, submission of financial plan that outline how the money will be used could be used to further validate the process.
Financial assistance is not the government’s duty

In liberal democracies, the govt’s role is to enable the citizens’ rights. It ensures everyone can exercise basic rights & freedoms by taking care of education, health, security, etc. and operating the relevant services such as police, public health & school systems. Governments must ensure the basic services, but not give money. If the money enables any needed right, the gov should establish a service for it. Throwing money at the problem can’t ensure that the money will be used to solve it, or that it will be used well. When it comes to giving money, as opposed to services, this is what happens. Gov gives people money without enough supervision and follow up. And so, because it can’t address the minute details, the problems are perpetuated, not solved. If not, then what the gov is doing is simply taking money as taxes from everyone, and giving it away to others. The gov should only take money in order to provide needed services - otherwise it should leave it to every person’s decision how to spend their money. It is unfair to harm one person by taking what he worked for, in order to better another’s, who hasn’t worked to earn it, or might misuse it. If the money doesn’t serve a critical need, then one usage of it isn’t better than the other - in both cases, the money goes towards non-essential needs[[http://tinyurl.com/66cbsdv]] It’s the gov’s duty to enable the objective conditions needed to live in a humane manner through services which verify that the needed conditions are met. Subjective conditions are set by society, and so it is society duty’s to enable them. Money, which is free to use by the owner’s discretion, enables those subjective conditions, and so should be given to the poor by the society, since society has decided on the need and will be able to spread it better. Bottom line, as long as the citizens’ basic rights are enabled, then any additional financial expenditure should be done by society, who'll do it better.
4. Gov is better suited than charities.

Prop says that charities have focus. But more important than focus is management on a general level. We need the government to overlook the collection of “focuses” in different districts. Gov will be the entity that takes charge of financial assistance to the poor, so as to address all sectors of the population suffering from poverty to a reasonable degree. We are not arguing to abolish charities; we concede to their ability to interact with and assess the local community. We are arguing that, although charities do help in the cause, the final entity that holds the authority and responsibility cannot be any other entity but the gov. Charities are voluntary on the part of the private sector and do not hold an obligation to address the entire needy population. Gov, on the other hand, has the intrinsic duty. It also has the capacity to handle poverty on the macro-level, which stems from its far out-reach, state of being funded better, authority, and organization. Its nation-wide scale facilitates the process of assessing the situation on a macro, nationwide level. It also has consistent funding, as opposed to
The government’s inefficiency

Government financial assistance to the poor is operating under a cumbersome and generalized set of criteria, designed to encompass the “average” welfare case. This kind of system can’t cater to an individuals’ situation, as explained in our 4th point. The payment itself, such as unemployment benefits, causes critical harms to the poor, (point 2), but also many taxpayers resent their misused involuntary contributions, and feel that since the state is taking care of the poor, they shouldn’t [[http://tinyurl.com/6fe9n53]] This means poor people actually get less money than what they could have, due to relative inefficiency: A very large cut of the tax money is lost on its way to the poor, due to red tape, regulations and administrative process required before it gets to the beneficiaries. Official US data shows that on average, 30% of the budget to assist the poor, actually end up at the poor’s pocket, with the rest getting lost in the welfare bureaucracy and mechanism. [[http://tinyurl.com/damfof]] This is in striking contrast to charities, who are able to distribute 65%-75% of their budget to the poor, if not more. [[http://tinyurl.com/5wz8txf]] In addition, as a govt service, it’s affected by politics - the minister in charge considers only the poor, but also the lobbyists, coalition pressure, and the next elections which strongly affect who receives the money - specific pressure groups, not the most needy. Such election pressure also leads to fear of failure, which means not trying innovative solutions, because they might not have clear successful results - so instead of solutions, the govt is just making the situation more comfortable - which point 4 shows is actually harmful. Overall, when it comes to the allocation of money, there is no comparison between the direct charity mechanism, free of conflicts of interests, and the government mechanism, which is inefficient and harms those it should benefit, namely the poor.
[Response to rebuttal] Suitability: Government has essential macro-view(scale&scope), and IS better organized, better funded.

The Prop fails on multiple levels. Its args start from faulty assumptions and develop not with data but with other assumptions equally faulty. 1. It says seeing “the bigger picture, you miss the details.” Its assumption here: endowing responsibility to gov will reduce the work done by charities. As we said, we’re not undermining the work of charities/trying to diminish it; we only mean that gov should be the overlooking entity ultimately responsible. Infact, gov has mechanism that encourages donors of charities[[nonprofit.about.com]] ex:IRS grants tax deductions for charitable donations. This actually hints its capacity to control degree of funding on a nationwide level. What we meant by outreach was not merely the number of personnel; it’s not only scale but scope: the ability to adequately address every group in need. Even if US charities were to have “millions of workers” total, each charity the Prop speaks of, that can go out and buy a car, is tied to immediate community by charters, service missions, and relationships with trustees.[[Giving USA, 1993]] Also for gov what comes with wide SCOPE is the ability to respond to national disasters or economic trends. Charities’ localized nature makes them ill-suited for this task. 2. Gov HAS better funding and redistribution.“Americans would have to make at least 10 times the donations they currently give to charity to fully replace government social spending.”[[huppi.com/kangaroo]] During economic hardship, yes budget cuts are possible but is less frequent compared to private donors cutting money. Donors are not obligated to donate. Also, stats show about 90% of charity funds are collected AND spent locally. Thus rich communities’ charities have better funding and opposites go for poor communities’. Donors identify with charities that can potentially provide something in return, so reallocating donations to other communities is hard. So gov has to step in for comms the private sector may miss.
What the governmental machine can’t, society through charities can

Both sides agree poverty is a societal problem, but Opp claims gov is responsible for everything that happens in society, and should go about fixing it all. We don’t agree, and view the gov as a machinery designed to protect the citizens’ basic rights. Social change and social responsibility don’t fall in the realms of this faceless machine. If we try to force it to deal with social change, and communist societies are an extreme example - we see their failure to progress with time. And indeed applied to this debate, we’ve already seen that gov’s consistently fail at dealing with poverty[[http://is.gd/zHHpqx]] Two reasons for that: 1. gov inherent slowness, to which Opp conceded - the more we rely on bureaucratic gov to affect and direct society instead of flexible societal organizations, the more we slow social progress. Being a bureaucratic machine, gov actions are always backed with tons of paperwork and several departments taking care of a single approval, making any process slow and cumbersome. Charities are constantly scrutinized by the public. Without constant proof of their achievements, charities stop getting funds and volunteers. This makes them quick and precise in their actions and goals. 2. public complacence: if gov tries to take care of a problem, then the public will do less (“someone else is doing it for me”) until the situation turns critical - and we’d prefer public involvement before a catastrophe. Poverty is on the rise, so we see this motion as a message to society, that it cannot rely on the gov to fix it with money. The problem is rooted too deep in the social fabric for crude gov machinery methods, and needs to be addressed at the core: the public, being the driver and operator of charities. It is exactly charities, which are the manifestation of social drive and responsibility, that will bring real change, provided we don’t continue with gov intervention, as we show in our last point.
Government's duty to remedy a social problem

We don't accept the logical leap from “legitimate violence” to social issues. Legitimate violence safeguards rights, as we claim. Opp failed to show it’s the gov’s duty to change society. It was asserted, but none of the facts, nor the logical base of the point, supports that. We believe in a gov that doesn’t try to “fix” society - if society believes that it has problems, then it’s society’s job to solve them, not call on gov machinery to magically fix it. As opp asked “Isn’t gov the agent through which society makes decisions and allocates resources?”, we’ve already answered No: gov is society’s last resort safety net. It isn't there to assist in every conceivable way. Gov is there to make sure that society doesn’t sink low - it’s society’s job to strive higher. That’s why we have charities. As long as people exercise their rights (for example, aren’t starving), gov is doing its job. Moreover, Opp failed to recognize that it is supposed to protect the status quo, which they agree is problematic. Today govs fail in fixing society’s ills, and big social changes begins from society, not from govs, see our 5th point. This motion pushes the rich for further care of the poor, unlike the inefficient and unsuccessful care that gov forces on the rich today. Furthermore, in their rebuttal to our 1st point, Opp accepted that it’s the burden of the rich to support the poor, and haven’t attacked the principled argument, thereby conceding that change should come from society, not gov. Generally, since Opp’s attacks were based on misreps, we need to correct them: 1. Gov’t shouldn’t dictate how charities use their money, and we never claimed so. We said contributors who suspect misuse will stop contributing. If they could do the same with the inefficient usage of their tax money, they would’ve. 2. We specifically said we’ll increase tax breaks, and so we do effectively reduce tax. 3. We haven't called for further services.
Direct financial aid is better than pre-defined programs (continued)

Opp seem to think that it is especially degrading to go to a soup kitchen. We disagree that helping your family to survive is degrading in any way. Moreover, we reject Opp’s idea for two reasons: a. We did not call for additional services by the gov. b. There’s no need to believe it will be so. Those that can work will work, if they won’t want to go to soup kitchens. Those that can’t work in the general market will find specific charities which will enable them to work within their particular limitations[[http://is.gd/tgc42F]] and those that are completely unable to work will rely on private charities to give them the financial or physical aid they require - so Opp’s doomsday soup-kitchen won’t happen. We believe that private charities know what they’re doing, and won’t give wheelchairs for those that need only crutches - they’ll either give them crutches, or point them towards another charity, which has crutches. This also answers Opp’s misconceptions from refutation #2: we agree that in some cases money needs to be given, but in most cases it isn’t, and gov’s general approach can’t differentiate between those cases, nor can it promise that the money will be used well. Charities, which answer to their donors and volunteers, won’t waste money on cases that don’t need it - imagine how a charity can justify to its donors 33% of its money recipients use the money to buy cigarettes, and that it enables the drinking problems of further 15%, not to mention drug abuse - like gov enables. Only private charities, working in their focused scope, can see when their donations are misused - when giving someone money only worsens his or her problems. So, yes - money should be given only as a last resort, and by the most discerning means. But there’s a long way between stopping giving money and crowding everyone into soup kitchens. Let gov leave its unsuccessful efforts, and let society answer its problems with its own charity efforts.