I am an extremely cynical person, so others can find it strange I believe in an innate will to act altruistically in most humans. So what do I really believe?

I think it is fair to say most humans are somewhat altruistic. We find happiness in helping others, and evolutionary psychologists argue that this communitarianism is hardwired into most of our brains. The catch is that humans are tribalistic and calculating, we choose who to help with charity. We generally only help people we like and that are within our group, and we also allocate our charitable will to the most needy. There is no need to prescribe this behavior on utilitarian grounds, our minds automatically do this. 

So how can I be cynical if I distrust others’ intentions? The problem is that when most people think about charity they think about government, they think about spending other people’s money against their will. Our modern society involves a lot of complaining about how other individuals spend their money, it’s due to the rise of leftism in the West. It’s a problem of ideology, the belief that we all share in the burdens or blessings of others will result in the downfall of civilization. 

The current political environment brings out the worst of human nature by defying components of it. Humans are nationalistic, selfish, aggressive and ignorant, so building a society ignorant to these facts will result in catastrophe. Humans can act towards an end that we may find acceptable, but current society is organized in a manner that greatly hinders this.