Preface:  I have never pretended to be perfectly neutral.  I am non partisan, not anti ideological.  I easily favor a conservative value set.  Where I bring my moderation is that I will attempt to look at both sides of an issue and find the truth.  In so many issues the real issue is so clouded by the partisanship that it is lost.

All of these blogs in this series are directly linked to something current and relevant that irritates me.

I irritate easily I admit.

If there was one area that illustrates the inherent differences in conservatism and liberalism most, I personally think it is the concept of personal responsibility.

What I mean by that is fairly simple.  Take Cindy Sheehan for example.

Her son joined the Army eyes wide open.  He reenlisted knowing he would be deployed.  He volunteer to assist on a rescue mission and paid for it with his life.  His mother took one look at his death and blamed the Army, blamed Bush, blamed America and blamed everyone except the two people who Killed her son:  Her son and the terrorists.

Seriously.  Her son did not choose to die, but he chose the path that lead to his death.  It is called a personal sacrifice, valuing the lives of others even if your own life is at risk.  I honor him for all measure.  But his death was anathema to his mother, because she is intrinsically anti war.  His choice was diametrically opposite of her values so rather then accept the fact that her son did not share her values, and embrace his sacrifice she instead blame shifts, accuses and does everything she can to shelter the fragile memory of the son she wanted, who she pretends was tricked and duped and murdered.

The bottom line is that choices have consequences, and when we have the ability to choose, we have to take responsibility for those consequences.

Crime is another issue where there is a blame shifting attitude that seems to prevail.  A person does an illegal act, is convicted and goes to jail.  Choice and consequence.  But wait.  Suddenly come the excuses.  It is blamed on racism, classism all manner of external factors except the simple act of a person who committed a crime.

But liberals take it one step further.  Remember the liberalism is the party of “feel good”, so we have to cuddle and treat the criminal emotionally.  Prison cannot be harsh or cruel, it has to be humane, and positive.  It isn’t their fault, our society lead them into it.  The wider culture has to bear the responsibility.

And that is how liberals see the issue of responsibility:  The government is responsible for you,  The government owes you a job, and food, and health care, and wealth.  They want to make everyone happy.  But somewhere they forget that many people are responsible for their own lots in life.  Bad choices make for bad consequences.

I’m reminded of this post from 2005 (abridged):

My son (15) and I have had a series of discussions lately about what should be some fairly simple topics: choice and consequence.

The idea is fairly simple really. We are presented with choices daily. To speed or not to speed. To cheat or lie. Even something as simple as deciding whether to indulge in that 3rd Krispy Kreme. We make a choice and choose a course of action, and then have to deal with the consequences of that choice.

What could be easier right? Well, not really. You see we got on this subject because my son did something at school, and is now suffering the consequences of that action.

Consequences are not always subject to mitigating circumstances, though in reality he was actually given such consideration. His expulsion was reduced to a suspension and he was given a special teaching placement until January when he can return to school. What made the situation somewhat surreal is the denial he, and according to him his peers, all live in surrounding consequences. The prevailing attitude in schools, and often in society at large seems to be one that reduces the acceptance of consequences and emphasizes excuses and shifting or responsibility.

A couple of recent examples come to mind. First, last week Dominick Sergio Maldonado, 20, went into the Tacoma Mall armed with an assault rifle and opened fire, hitting 6 people. The most seriously wounded was Brendan McKown, who has a concealed weapon permit and was armed. He did not however choose to open fire, he tried reason and was shot 5 or 6 times. His is a case of a person looking at the choices (shoot or not shoot), evaluating the consequences (hitting innocent victims) and deciding on a course of action, not to fire. His attacker had a different set of priorities. How this is relevant, is when talk radio host Bryan Suits (KVI 570 am) was discussing on the air that maybe more people armed might actually prevent these things from happening, a caller had a different solution.

1. Mandatory metal detectors in all public places, malls and businesses.
2. Mandatory therapy for troubled children to prevent them from becoming troubled adults.

The caller it appears had determined, with no real information, that he must have been messed up as a kid to be this messed up, and he needed help, not a bullet in the chest. As it was he surrendered after holding hostages 3 hours, but that it irrelevant. The caller felt that an army was needed, but an army of counselors.

Here we see my point. To the caller, it wasn’t Dominick’s fault, it was the culmination of years of obvious abuse. He effectively absolved Dominick of the responsibility, because society failed him. I called Bryan and told him in my opinion the guy was either a security guard or a counselor, since they are the only ones who would benefit from such a plan.

I mean, I can see his point to a degree. Maybe we don’t do enough to help our youth. And I would imagine his defense lawyer will make that very claim along side an insanity plea.

But at the same time he bought, loaded and carried weapons to a Mall and shot people. He had the presence of mind to call the police, brag about his weapons, and tell them he was about to fire on innocent people. When the police asked where he was, he told them to follow the screams. He acted in a callous and premeditated manner, and he made choices. He should have to follow the consequences.

I think we as a culture need to reexamine our sense of responsibility for our choices, and maybe work on making better ones, regardless of whether you apply this to driving, dating, voting or eating.

How this is all relevant to me today is the new King County Trans-Fat ban.  King County wants to ban it rather then let restaurants make that choice and let customer choose what restaurants they will use.

King County is masterful at the feel good nanny state philosophy.  The prime example is voting, where if you are stupid enough to fill out your ballot incompletely there are a host of people waiting to determine you intent and finish.

We found it when they banned Christmas Greetings.  We found it in the State smoking ban.  We find it in the State’s Internet gambling ban. in Seat belt laws, in helmet laws, in all thye other useless wastes of tax payer money that allow us too feel good.

The Blue State mentality is the Government acting as our conscience, and acting as the arbiter of what is safe and what is not.

We see the feel good solutions in the light rail, that spends billions but offers no substantive traffic relief.

Choice.  We are all a product of the choices we make.

Except my being so fat of course, that’s the fault of McDonald’s, Starbucks and Krispy Kreme.

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