|
|
PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY: The Bogey Man is Found
February 23, 2003
By Dean Chambers.
Just about all of us have a sense, at some level, that we are headed in the wrong direction as a society, in a big way. When we look at certain facts and realize what's going on, we can see this. In one of his essays, former Congressman John LeBoutillier discussed what he called the "salami effect." Gradually over time, changes taking place in society are like occasionally taking another slice from the salami that goes unnoticed. Eventually we notice the salami is gone.
I have chronicled a number of issues in these articles and essays. Most of us agree that we pay far more in taxes then we should. Poll after poll shows that most Americans believe the government wastes most of our money. One scandal after another making the daily headlines reinforces this view. Most us don't trust politicians or those that run most major corporations. Most of us like our member of Congress but think Congress is corrupt. Most of us like our physician and lawyer, if we have one. But most of us think doctors and lawyers are too concerned with making money, regardless of how true that may be.
We know that our education system could be much better and see reports in the press about how test scores are getting lower and lower. Yet as a society we spend more on education than we ever have. I've shown in my articles here how the government engages in blatant lies about economics to tell us the economy is better than it really is. Yet most of us know we make less money than we think we should, and have less opportunity for promotion or better employment than we think we should.
Most of us know that we are not as frugal with our money, as individuals, families, and as a country compared to a hundred years ago or more. We live in a so-called economic boom that has been financed by plastic. That includes the plastic we spend as individuals that is called Visa, MasterCard, etc. and the plastic our politicians spend, that is called bond issues, taxes, and deficit spending. Both at the individual level and the government level, in the past 100 years, we've gone from a society that spends money we have to one that spends money we haven't yet earned. In the past decade personal debt has set new records as personal bankruptcies have also set new records. Most of those were individuals and families who couldn't pay the medical bills and/or the credit card bills. Government at all levels has done the same thing, especially at the federal level. This current talk about a "surplus" is a fraud perpetrated on us by politicians of both major parties. The federal government is liable for more than $6 trillion and all the politicians can do is argue how to spend the so-called surplus. But there's no surplus, it's an accounting trick. The government is still in debt, and still engages in deficit spending.
Who is to blame for all of this? We realize the problem, most of us. I realize some of us are in denial, and hope that number declines as people read this. So who is to blame for this? All of the decisions that lead to the problems that most of us realize and recognize were made either through the political process or through the market process. That's right, those who cast votes at the ballot box and those who made consumer choices when buying products and services decided these issues, at one time or another.
I think most would agree we need to find who is responsible for this, and find some solutions to these problems. I can assure you the solutions won't be quick, nor will they be easy. Many of us want quick and easy solutions, but those aren't always possible. But I found who the bogey man is, and I'll let you in on this secret. We can all find, quite quickly and easily, who the bogey man is. Or at least, who ONE of them is. We can all simply look in a mirror. Then we can ask that individual to make a commitment to also be part of the solution.
|
|
|
|
