- "Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery?" - Patrick Henry
I've become convinced that many of the difficulties facing our nation come down to a single root problem - the unwillingness of people to take responsibility for their actions.
One of the things which the founders of this nation were accutely aware of and which we seem to have forgotten is that freedom isn't really free. The price of freedom is responsibility.
Everyone wants a better life and wants to enjoy the benefits of society, but it's human nature to want to get the best deal and get your liberties at a discount. The problem is that most of us got freedom at no cost when we were born, and don't realize that it actually has value until after we trade it away for the things we want.
The catch to this is that if you don't pay for the benefits of society by accepting responsibility you pay for them in other ways. You trade away little bits of freedom to get the priveleges which government chooses to grant you in exchange. You go from being a free individual to becoming a client of the state.
Responsibility is scary. It means not being able to blame someone else when something goes wrong for you. It's a lot easier to give up the responsibility and give up your freedom with it for the guiltless security and protection of a higher power - be it God or government.
In the society which America has become, we have given up many of our freedoms for the protection of government, and we expect government to give back priveleges and benefits in exchange. People are right to cry for their entitlements and government programs. They paid the highest price for them. What they didn't realize when they paid that price was that government has overhead - it has politicians and bureaucrats to feed. It never gives back as much as it takes, be it money or benefits.
Article comments
1 - dietdoc
Dave writes: Responsibility is scary. It means not being able to blame someone else when something goes wrong for you. It's a lot easier to give up the responsibility and give up your freedom with it for the guiltless security and protection of a higher power - be it God or government.
Reply: I completly agree, Dave. Everyone is always looking for some reason for being a "victim," as that is what we have become. A society of victims. That is one reason why the plantiff bar has grown to almost immeasurable size. I heard someone actually say the other day that their goal in life was to be in a traffic accident with a rich person.
The hardest thing for most in our society is to say: "Hey, I messed up. I deserve what I got as a result. Now I will learn from my mistake and move forward."
We have become a society of entitlements. "I deserve...." is the new battle cry. And, when you combine that with the unrealistic expectations cultivated by the mass media, it becomes an envious, debt-ridden, dysfunctional country. It doesn't start with the government and it certainly doesn't end there.
We have only ourselves to blame.
Cheers,
Ron
2 - Dave Nalle
>>We have only ourselves to blame.<<
No one likes to be the target of blame, and when given the option to pass the buck there's a natural tendancy to do it and not face up to whatever blame there may be.
I'm not a big fan of 12 step programs because of the religious indoctrination aspect, but the one thing they have exactly right is the idea that the first thing you have to do is accept the blame for what you've done and come to terms with it.
Dave
3 - Dave Nalle
>>They are still there - be glad to do so.<<
Weirdness indeed. They were gone when I was on earlier today, and now they're back, some hours after you said you'd delete them.
Dave
4 - RJ
"Personal Responsibility" is a phrase that the voters love to hear, as long as it is left unexplained.
As soon as you explain what exactly it means, in detail, the voters become hesitant, even fearful, shrug, and walk away.
And then the MSM slaughters the messenger.
And even though the voters claim to hate and distrust the media, they swallow it whole.
So. Those who praise a culture of responsibility are politically screwed. And those who demand more freebies for the masses (every man a king!) will be rewarded.
And, 100 years from now, North Americans and Europeans will be laboring in the salt mines of the Red Chinese because we, today, were more interested in free rides and entitlements and extended vacations (all provided by a debt-ridden government, composed of "leaders" more interested in winning the next election than ensuring the future solvency of their own economy) than taking responsibility of our own lives.
But we'll all be dead by then. And my future grandkids? Let THEM deal with the mess we'll leave behind! :-/
5 - Temple Stark
>>So. Those who praise a culture of responsibility are politically screwed. And those who demand more freebies for the masses (every man a king!) will be rewarded.
And, 100 years from now, North Americans and Europeans will be laboring in the salt mines of the Red Chinese because we, today, were more interested in free rides and entitlements and extended vacations (all provided by a debt-ridden government, composed of "leaders" more interested in winning the next election than ensuring the future solvency of their own economy) than taking responsibility of our own lives.
Yep. That's true.
6 - Dave Nalle
Trying to think of some sort of more substantial response for RJ, but all I can do is not my head in reluctant agreement.
The only solution I see is to do everything we can to raise our kids and get them to raise their kids to understand that they are responsible for their own lives and choices, and maybe with a core population who understand their rights and obligations there will be someone left to pick up the reigns of society before everything falls apart completely.
Dave
7 - dietdoc
Dave writes: I'm not a big fan of 12 step programs because of the religious indoctrination aspect, but the one thing they have exactly right is the idea that the first thing you have to do is accept the blame for what you've done and come to terms with it.
Reply: Again, I find myself in agreement. Scary, ain't it? (grin) Maybe we should have a societal 12 Step Program. Step one: Admit that you are responsible for your actions. Step two: Accept the fact that you can only change some things and are powerless against others. Change those you can and accept those you can't. etc. etc.
Rage against the machine (not the musical group)is all well and good, but there comes a time when the rage is misdirected. Look to thine own house, folks.
Cheers,
Ron
8 - Shark
I'm against Personal Responsibility!
(just kiddin' -- what's next: an essay praising Oxygen?... zzzzzzzzzzz...)
9 - Shark
Seriously, Dave, do you ever read the shit you write?
10 - Dave Nalle
Shark, I detect sarcasm, yet you're so anti-GOP that I had always assumed you were a supporter of the Democrats 100% responsibility-free, suck on the government teat philosophy. I guess not...
Dave
11 - Mark Saleski
as opposed to the Republican 100% responsibility-free, suck on the government teat philosophy?
12 - JR
Shark, I detect sarcasm, yet you're so anti-GOP that I had always assumed you were a supporter of the Democrats 100% responsibility-free, suck on the government teat philosophy.
Why, are those the only choices?
13 - Dave Nalle
True, Shark could well be a straight-out Socialist. That would be more respectable, I guess.
And no, the Reps and Dems aren't the only choices, but they're the seemingly unavoidable ones.
Dave
14 - JR
Between the Patriot Act, the rubber-stamping of pork-laden budgets and the Terry Schiavo affair; it seems to me that a principled Libertarian could take a real dislike to this president.
Although, for me it's just the abject stupidity of his public persona.
15 - Dave Nalle
And many Libertarians have, JR. I'm on a lot of Libertarian email lists and they're pretty evenly split between those who will accept the lesser of two evils and those who are just fed up with the excesses.
>>Although, for me it's just the abject stupidity of his public persona.<<
At least you realize it's a personna - a lot of his detractors fail to catch that.
Dave