The End of Personal Responsibility
Forever and ever, amen.
 

March 31 2005
Counterbias.com
by Susan Shafer


As I watched the Schiavo case escalate last week, I couldn't help but recall the president's smirk when he said during the election, "Democrats want more big government. They want to be involved in things that government shouldn't be involved in. So, if you like that, vote for the Democrats."

By "big government," I can only surmise that he meant social programs designed to give low socioeconomic groups a leg up so they can pull themselves out of poverty. He certainly couldn't have meant anything else, given the recent involvement of politicians and the courts in matters I never dreamed they'd touch. Indeed, the writers of the Constitution never dreamed they'd touch them either, and specifically set up guidelines so this wouldn't happen. The "new" America says that it doesn't really matter what the founding fathers had in mind when they enacted fair and impartial guidelines to allow each state to make laws which would serve the greater good and particular needs of its citizens.

This "new" America says that if you disagree with something on a moral or religious basis, to hell with the law: let's step in at the last hour and change it.

We all watched open-mouthed in 2000 when the Supreme Court stepped in, effectively ending the election process and appointing a president. We couldn't criticize too loudly, though, lest we be accused of sour-grapes liberal politics. So, we just sat with our mouths hanging open. (For five years.) With this recent congressional foray into personal decision-making, one might be tempted to stand on the old soapbox and scream about how government is intruding into the personal lives of its citizens. I have to tell you, I was tempted myself.

Then something happened, which I can only attribute to too much Easter sugar, or perhaps too many vodkas at a recent retirement bash. Nonetheless, the word epiphany comes to mind here, and I'm all excited because I've never had one. Some people see bright lights or pass out and wake up in a metal flying disk with flashing lights. Mine wasn't nearly so grand, but I do expect it to be life changing.

You see, I was brought up in that humble old Midwestern ethic of "taking responsibility" for your actions. It was a party-pooper mentality, really. You make a mess, you clean it up. You hurt someone's feelings, you apologize. You earn a low grade, you go back and do extra credit so you can bring it up. (Do they still have extra credit?  I'd like to get some of that at my job.)

It was all give-and-take; you said "please" and "thank you" and "excuse me" and by god if you shot the neighbor's dog in the eye with your BB gun, you paid the vet bills.  (That's another story.)  "Don't come crying to me" was the national parental motto of the sixties and seventies, and we didn't go crying to anyone if we made a bad choice. It was all on you. While mom might relent and put a six-inch bandage on your elbow after you flew your bike down Dead Man's Hill after being told never to do that, she slammed it on and let you know you had made the choice and it was going to hurt. She also used the extra-stinging stuff to clean it up in case you got the brilliant idea to try it again. You never did.

But now, these times they are a-changin', boys and girls, and most of us profess not to like it so much. We hated being made to take responsibility for things, but now that we're adults, we wish more people would. We're tired of lawsuit abuse and whiny talk-show guests who made trillions of bad choices and now they get paid to talk about them. We shake our heads at other peoples' kids who leave messes in restaurants and in their yards and are never made to clean them up.

Finally, we worry. We worry about whether we're making the right choice. Am I socking away enough for retirement? Did I drink too much as a kid and now I'm going to have a stroke at forty? Am I paying enough attention to my aging parents? Should I have sent the kids to private school? Maybe I should have bought a house further from the ocean, now that there's a danger of tsunamis? Maybe I should have bought a house closer to the ocean, now that the air quality is so horrible. Maybe I shouldn't have bought a house at all. This is what we do. We worry.

All that personal responsibility stuff has caught up with us, and we're paying the price. Look at the astronomical sales of anti-depressants and anxiety pills and stress juices and herbal remedies for headaches and sleeping and waking. We're worrying ourselves to death, and as my epiphany has revealed, it's all for naught! We no longer have to take responsibility for our personal decisions, nor do we have to make any decisions, because Congress will make them for us! How perfect! I know I'm sleeping better already.

Don't get it yet? Let me give you a few examples. I am currently trying to make healthier choices. As many have, I ate and drank too much all the way into early adulthood, and even have occasional lapses now. It's not without a price, though. I worry constantly about what I've done to my body and who would take care of me and how I would never want my family to have that responsibility. Who would pay the bills if I had to be hospitalized over a long term? I took steps recently to make a living will, but I'm not really sure it matters. The way things are moving, Congress can just come in and make those decisions for me. Maybe they will have a committee. A few good folks from Washington will meet with my parents, take a gander at my high school yearbook, and make a decision. If it's a heavily conservative Congress that year, they may choose to keep me alive until nobody comes to visit anymore. This, of course, because it's morally wrong to let someone die.  If it's a more leftist Congress, they may ask my parents about their wishes.  (Gosh, I sure hope not. That would make them really sad.  I'd rather Congress just decide.)

So, you smoked too much during the seventies through the nineties, long after you could pretend you didn't know it was bad for you? Don't quit now. For heavens sake, enjoy that soothing nicotine buzz without worrying about the results. The government will sue the tobacco companies for you, saying they led you down the evil path. The kicker is, you may not get any of the money, but the government is going to pay your medical bills anyway. That's why they're suing. They need a little return on that investment of subsidies to tobacco farmers.

Or, perhaps you have a loftier perch in the pecking order and you're a corporate CEO.  Maybe you've been asking yourself if it's really worth it to embezzle millions and cause your subordinates to lose their entire retirement savings. I say go for it. After all, the government will incarcerate the big fish like Martha Stewart and allow you to enjoy your last four homes for few years, even though you had to sell nine or ten of your favorite houses. It may be years before they prosecute you, and by then, your children will have graduated from Yale and will be seeking higher office. They can put in a good word for you.

I know several people who have made the decision to homeschool because they want to control what their children learn. Or maybe their child had a bad experience with a bully in public school. Truth be told, I'd stick with public school. It won't be "public" much longer. Oh yes, it will still be free, but the government is making all sorts of choices as to what your children can eat, what books they can read, and, in some states, they've even managed to sneak a little fake prayer into the morning curriculum. (In Texas, they call it a moment of silence. Kids who want to pray are encouraged to do so. Kids who don't can roll their eyes and poke each other. Either way, the legislature has made its subtle little inroad into getting prayer back into the schools.) No longer will you have to worry about your children being schooled by a bunch of bleeding hearts, because no matter who teaches them, the government controls what is being taught.

The government will even choose a "proper" family for your child!  Remember the case of Elian Gonzalez, whose mother perished while trying to emigrate from Cuba via boat?  The little boy was pulled from the water and reunited with relatives in the United States. Meanwhile, his father back in Cuba wasn't even aware that his son's mother had been trying to smuggle the child to the USA for a better life. Imagine his anguish, then relief, to realize that his little boy was safe and would soon be returned to him in Cuba. "Not so fast mister," said the United States Government.  "How do we know you're a good father?" Then, Congress developed some list of unwritten criteria for a "good" family and decided the boy would have a better life here with relatives he didn't know.  The criteria? We never saw the list, but presume that Disney World was on it. We saw hundreds of media images of the little tyke with Mickey and friends, while being told in poignant sound bites that the child would have a better life here. We also saw the boy being hauled around Florida in a really big SUV. Certainly he would have a better opportunity to own one of those if he stayed here with relatives he didn't know.

And think about your car! It won't be long before you won't need to make a choice about your vehicle purchase based on price and miles per gallon. The government will do it for you!  Everybody gets one really big SUV, and it's your job to keep filling up the tank and lining the pockets of politicians and their Saudi friends. You won't have to feel guilty about not buying that hybrid car; they'll be outlawed.

So I say, sit back, decide nothing, and let the government make all the choices for you.  Still not convinced? Still feeling responsible for your own actions? You'll get over it. The government has laws that protect certain environmental treasures, such as the Arctic Wildlife Preserve. Not for long though. They want the oil, so they're going to vote to "unprotect" the land. You won't feel bad about the destruction of the environment because it wasn't your choice. Congress did it. If you have to make choices as to which prescriptions to use due to the cost, don't worry. The cost will continue to rise. Stricter laws will be put in place to keep you from getting cheaper drugs from Canada. Unless, of course, we don't make enough flu vaccine, and then it will be okay to ask Canada for their drugs.

Perhaps you don't take of advantage of the Constitutional Amendment that allows you to bear arms. Pretty soon you'll probably get a huge tax break if you buy a gun, so you might as well go right ahead and purchase a really big assault rifle. See how easy the government is making it for us to forget about our personal responsibility? Once politicians decide who you have to marry, it's only logical that they'll decide where you need to live, what you need to eat, and what job best suits you. I say let them decide. Maybe they'll do a better job than I. We'll still have to vote every four years though, so we can still say we have a democracy. Or maybe not! Maybe we'll be spared that hassle, too, and they can all just vote for each other based on whose wife has the most money or whose family owns the most businesses.

I can just sit back with another vodka and chocolate bunny and not worry about a thing.

Susan Shafer is an elementary school librarian in Houston, Texas. She can be contacted at Pgeturner@ev1.net.

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