Personal Responsibility
Surprisingly, personal responsibility is the underlying principle that makes America Great or weak. Depending on who you ask, personal responsibility simply means that no one is to blame for the consequences when they are the results of your decision. If you are working on a job and make the decision to not follow the instructions of the employer and are fired, it is not the fault of the employer, the consequences are the results of your decision. Simple truth in this situation is that the employer is not obligated to provide you with a job and since he is paying you for your labor, simply do as you are told unless the employer asks your opinion. Notice the most important point in the comment – he is paying you – there is no reason for you to pay him since ho told you what to do and you failed. Find another job and learn from the experience.
The entire success of capitalism is based on people making decisions and then accepting the consequences of those decisions. If you want to start a new business, this is your decision and no one else’s responsibility, then the consequences of the business decisions fall directly in your lap. Yes, people make bad decisions and the best ones learn from those decisions and recover the loss or damage and move on. Consider the decisions in every business: 1) offer a product or service, 2) hire staff, 3) select a location for the business, and every one of these decisions could mean the success or failure of the decisions. However, no decision is final unless you refuse to change your mind – this is the gift of personal responsibility, you can change.
In business, the keys to success are working hard and making the right decisions, the fact is that you cannot buy success. Even if you are given a business, unless you are willing to work hard, the business will not be a success and working hard is the result of personal responsibility. How many fortunes have been lost by people more interested in an easy life and unwilling to work to build?
Everything in your is life influenced by personal responsibility and your success in life depends on whether or not you accept the consequences of your decision. A simple example: drugs. There is a ton of information available on the likely outcome of using drugs, all available to everyone that takes the time to seek it out. The personal responsibility kicks in when you make the first decision to use a drug. However, society has resolved that drug addiction is no longer the fault of the individual, it is a disease. There is a new virus or bacteria that causes people to make poor decisions and then become addicted to drugs, according to liberals, but ask any doctor for the name of this virus.
Public Service Announcement: what they don’t tell you is that some people can become addicted from the first use and the people that are selling the drug don’t care if you become addicted or the damage it does to your life and family.
Personal responsibility means accepting the consequences of your decision and then deciding how to move on. One important point, an intervention by the police, counselors, friends or family is not accepting personal responsibility. This is exactly the opposite of personal responsibility, but it is the trend in our society, passing the personal responsibility on to the back of society – it isn’t my fault, I am a victim. The only way to kick a habit is through personal responsibility and making a change in your life exactly the way that a smoker has to snuff out the cigarette to never smoke again or the alcoholic has to put a permanent cork in the bottle to never drink again. If anyone else makes the decision to stop then it won’t last.
The problem with drugs is that the consequences of the decision become the problem for society in the form of people that can’t work, theft, crime, overdoses and medical costs. When a problem is shifted from the person to society then personal responsibility has been rejected and the only solution, of any value, is to reject the social responsibility and allow these people to die. Where is the concern for the death of an addict when there is no concern over the death of a fetus?
Sorry, but personal responsibility is also a component of the abortion discussion. Very simply put – each person must make the decision as to engage in sexual activity. Here’s the funny part, a lot of people seem to be of the opinion that engaging in sex and pregnancy have nothing to do with the other. The fact is that one (pregnancy) is the result of the other (sexual activity). Personal responsibility comes in two parts in relation to abortion: 1) what to do before engaging in sexual activity, and 2) what you do after engaging in sexual activity.
In truth, there are a number of programs that are intended for birth control, and the use of these programs provides the option of sexual activity. The hard part is for the people that engage in sexual activity to make use of these programs – IN ADVANCE of sexual activity. There is no finger pointing as to who should use these programs, either the male or female partner because programs are available for both, the important point is that the programs are utilized. This is the personal responsibility because if the program is used and there is not a pregnancy after intercourse then the consequences are exactly what was intended. If the programs are not utilized before intercourse, the personal responsibility is to use a morning after solution. It is an utter failure of personal responsibility to fail to take any action.
This is where the pregnancy and the abortion discussion comes up. If a woman fails to show any personal responsibility then laws of civility and murder are put on hold under the claim of “This is my body”. The problem it that this claim is false, if there was any personal responsibility for “my body” then a pregnancy would not be an option, however, this person has proven they are incapable of making smart decisions and should not be given the opportunity to murder a fetus.
One should wonder if the pregnancy, which could have been avoided, is intended to be used as a means of blackmail – forcing the partner to accept responsibility and provide financial inducements or commitment. The real question should be asked as to how long it takes for someone to decide they do not want a child from an accidental pregnancy? Is it hours or days or week or months? The concept of abortion simply states that a decision cannot be made until time has gone by which, once again, prompts the question of why was the pregnancy allowed in the first place?
Yes, there are going to be those instances where there is a problem with the fetus but these are few and should be resolved or if there is a danger to the mother, but this number is a minimal percentage. Under these circumstances, the decision must be made for the good of all based on exceptions provided but just “a flip of a coin” is not a reason.
Bottom line, there is no need for abortions except under very specific conditions. Abortions are accepted because the woman claims this is my body, however, this is the consequence of a decision that was made without personal responsibility. There is simple solution: a woman cannot get an abortion unless she has an agreement between herself and her partner which states that:
1) she is not on birth control,
2) the partner accepts the financial responsibility of a pregnancy, and
3) the partner has no involvement in the decision of birth or abortion.
This agreement would eliminate the need for abortions because the participants in the sexual activity must understand and accept the consequences of the decision.
Another of those topics which is a playground for liberalism, for passing responsibility from the person to society or the economy. If seriously considered, an employee should never stay at minimum wage for more than six months unless the employee is essentially worthless and should be fired, except society has provided unemployment insurance for the useless workers to be paid even if fired.
Liberals claim that minimum wage is not a livable, failing to understand two points: 1) it was never intended to be a stopping point for an employee unless that employee is simply looking for ‘job’ instead of work, and 2) minimum wage employees do not provide labor results which are worth more to the employer than the minimum wage paid. The same rules apply in minimum wage as everywhere else when personal responsibility is the motive, if the person takes the responsibility to provide results which are of value to the employer at a rate higher than the minimum wage, the employer will increase the wages. Every employer knows that it is better keep a good employee as compared to allowing that employee to move to the competition, give the employee a raise and let the competition have the minimum wage employees.
In dealing with someone without personal responsibility, the consequences of a poor decision are blamed on everything around the employee except for the employee and the poor decision. Somehow, every poor decision requires that society step in and resolve the problems created by the consequences of the decision. It doesn’t matter if it is an abortion or benefits for someone that can’t support themselves or the cost of dealing with drug or alcohol addiction, somehow these problems and costs are expected to be borne by society as a whole instead of the person making the poor decision.
Society and liberals want to shift it from the individual to society so that the individual no longer has to feel any regret for making stupid decisions. Liberals want to avoid the consequences of poor decisions on the individual and instead, just push the poor decisions down the drain without the individual learning anything from the poor decisions.
Personal responsibility is very simple - make a decision and then take the responsibility for that decisions. If someone was to invest in a very risky stock and for weeks then months, nothing happens and then all of sudden it explodes in value and goes through the roof. Kinda like investing in Microsoft when it first came out and just holding on to it, ending up as a millionaire (yes, actually happened). Or the flip side, investing and praying for an explosion and instead get an implosion where the stock collapses and your investment is worthless, is there some agency that needs to repay you for your losses?
Society, those with a weak mind, have a need to pass the responsibility on to a greater power because they do not want the shame of being regarded as a failure for making bad decisions. So now, an addiction, which is purely the result of a poor decision by the individual, is now a disease, thereby passing the responsibility for the poor and bad decisions onto an irresponsible concept of a bodily weakness instead of a weakness of the mind.
If you want to make the world a better place, force the concept of personal responsibility into the discussion, bring it into the open. Openly discuss the decision process and personal responsibility for every social issue. If you spend your money on drinking in the bar with friends instead of paying for your car payment, society does not owe you to get your car back or replaced, poor choices have consequences. Personal Responsibility means understanding that there are consequences and you need to make your choice understanding those consequences.
Of course, if you don't want personal responsibility, don't complain when the government gives all your stuff to someone else because that is better for society.