by Dacia Nichol
What does it mean to be a responsible American? In today's age of bailouts, welfare, and other categories calling for an open hand, we're seeing a sense of entitlement beyond any sort of justifiable reason. It is one thing to accept the precipitations of capitalism and provide some type of buffer from the very bottom of the bin - after all, the world needs "ditch diggers" too and having a crummy job that needs to be done by someone doesn't mean you deserve to be thumbed down by the entire country. But when does the buffer become the very means of survival itself? When does the hand up become the expected hand out? When did we decide that the government owed us tangible goods instead of just the pure liberty sought by the citizens before us? When did we trade personal prosperity for a government provided version?
We always hear the rhetoric about what the Founding Fathers intended for this country, so instead of repeating the same points or pushing an interpretation agenda, I'm just going to sum their vision with three familiar concepts not up for debate:
Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
I don't recall there being any sort of asterisks on those concepts. The quote isn't "...life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness...as provided by government." America has always been about the opportunity to be anything you want to strive for - equality in opportunity, NOT outcome.
I've seen bumper stickers, t-shirts, comedian acts, Radio City shows, television ads, and even pop songs that all seem to be centered around blaming someone else for every problem that exists in the world today - in particular, George W. Bush. The man had his problems, and his policies are fair game for criticism. That I will give you. But when you blame the president for your credit card bills, your children's lack of a father, your McJob, or even world hunger - darling, it's time for some self-reflection.
For the 2008 elections, we saw the massive uprising that rejected everything that Republicans came to represent - nation building, illegal spying on citizens, spending, and amnesty...just to name a few. In order to disguise the fact that all of the hated policies happened to be what were once traditionally liberal ideas (American liberals I mean), the socialist left demonized a single man as being the root of all evil. Little Kimmy failed her spelling test - damn that Bush. This line at the airport is taking forever - damn that Bush. My hospital bill is so ridiculous - damn that Bush! We all want to be mad at someone - let's try looking within. Did you need those new sunglasses? What about that cruise and the 10 bottles of Vodka you went through every week? I don't think a big man in a black suit was hovering over you as you swiped Lady Visa at the checkout.
Let me use a broader example - if the government was able to wreak all that havoc in just 8 short years, then where the heck were we, the American people? Why are our politicians gallivanting around the country, running with children's ideas of a better world that have done nothing but plunge us into debt and killed our chance at happiness through skyrocketing taxes? Who's fault is that? We're not even paying attention to what our elected officials are doing, so how can we blame them for what they're doing to the extent that we have? There's no one to blame but ourselves - our corrupt government is a direct reflection of what American responsibility has become. It's time for us to be accountable as citizens and in doing so, hold our officials accountable for their actions. American responsibility needs to make a comeback in 2010 and 2012.
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