Poverty - why should governments care?

It isn’t a surprise that we were unable to come up with a clean-cut definition of poverty withing the confines of our 1 hour and 15 minute class period. However to correctly answer the question posed it is necessary to do so, or at least clarify what definition we are basing our answer off of.

Poverty –

· 1) the state of condition of having little or no money, goods,

or means of support; condition of being poor; indigence

2) denotes serious lack of the means for proper existence

3) Implies a state of privation and lack of necessities

(dictionary.com)

If we apply this definition to the basic level of human needs that is implied (i.e. nourishment, shelter, etc.) then it is safe to say that a person living in poverty is not in a well or healthy state. An impoverished person’s basic needs are not being fulfilled, and in most cases there are large numbers of impoverished people centralized in different areas throughout a state.
To decide if a government has a commitment addressing the issue of poverty let’s look at social contract theory. This theory states that governments “are created by the people in order to provide for collective needs……….(and) thus exist for the purpose of serving the needs and wishes of the people.”(reference.com). In return for this service the people under the jurisdiction of the said government abide by its laws, however if they are unhappy and do not have what they require they will be less apt to comply and the system would suffer. It is because of this idea that the government exists to serve the people that the government most certainly has a commitment to addressing poverty. The primary purpose of a government is to care for its citizens and if they are living in poverty, deficient in even their most basic needs then they are most obviously not well cared for. Furthermore the governments purpose in preserving the welfare of its people is made even more tangible by the existence of so many programs, laws, and services to do so. These programs which address poverty in the sense of basic needs for sustaining life are found not only in the US, but all over the world and are in fact quite common within state governments. In fact not only are their programs to address this most basic form of poverty, but also poverty in other senses such as intellect, the arts, etc. This goes to show that not only do governments have a responsibility to address poverty; they accept that responsibility and often times take measures to go even beyond the bare minimum of necessities. However, whether or not the measures taken to dull these pains are successful is an entirely different story.