Ideas: Entitlements

We live in a rich and powerful country.  What obligation does that wealth place on us, collectively, to our less fortunate citizens?  Is it acceptable for Americans to starve?  To live in the streets?  To go without medical treatment?  Do people who lack these things have an inherent claim on these things, or is their right contingent on certain things?  If society has a duty to help the less fortunate, does that duty fall on each individual privately, is it the province of religious or secular charities, or is it properly a function of government?

I have my own set of answers to these questions.  I respect that other people will have different answers, but the other ideas I hope to develop are grounded in my own answers.  I'd like to present my answers here, and discuss them, in the hope that my loyal readers will be willing to accept them -- strictly for the sake of the argument -- as the basis for future posts in this series, rather than having further discussions bog down into fundamental disagreement over these basic points.  Maybe that's not reasonable; if so, I'd rather talk about it than not talk.  But I'd like to take a stab at these issues now.

( My answers to my own questions here )