Positive and Negative Moral Obligations

A positive right is a right that passes the obligation to others to help a person get
something. A positive right falls under the beneficence principle. On the other hand, a negative
right is defined as a right that gives other people an obligation not to interfere with a person’s
access to something. While positive rights exist on paper, they may not exist in reality. Positive
rights may include the right to education, the right to housing, and the right to quality healthcare.
All these rights create an obligation on other people, especially the government, to grant access
to crucial services. The government is mandated to ensure that every citizen has access to these
services because citizens pay taxes. However, it is difficult to ensure that every citizen is granted
these services. These services are provided majorly by private entities, and every citizen is
instead obligated to fund the access.
In the desert-island castaway, there are two arguments that differ. Libertarians believe
that the poor man has no right over the water. On the other hand, liberals believe that the rich
man is obligated to help the poor man. I believe that the rich man does not have an obligation to
help the poor man. It may be the right thing and humanitarian to do, but this is not an obligation
or based on the rights of the poor man. The same should apply to healthcare. Healthcare cannot
be free but can be made to be affordable. Companies in the healthcare industry invest a lot of
money. Healthcare experts are also in school for an extended period of time. To this end, one has
to pay to access healthcare, and the focus should be to make it affordable.