Responsibility is not a 14-letter word
I’ve been reading more in the John Taylor Gatto book and trying to dig into the references he’s made to better understand where he is coming up with his various conclusions. The one of the side effects of the book, that teaches that you should trust not in someone else’s human reasoning, has spurred me on to learning about these things for myself. Regardless, I’d like to consider responsibility now.
Responsibility is something that has had a bad connotation to me for quite a few years (let’s say 31.5 years of my life). I believe it is because I got off on the wrong foot with it. I was usually prevented from doing something I wanted to in the name of responsibility. Because of that I’ve shied away from taking responsibility unless absolutely necessary (such as making sure I don’t get into work too late, or that I don’t look to dishevelled, so I can still have money to buy food to feed my family). From the learning that I’ve been doing I’m starting to gain an understanding that responsibility, in the meaning of taking responsibility for one’s self and actions, is actually an empowering and liberating thing.
I’d like to use President Bush as an example of an archetype, although not the original for sure, of an entity that is in opposition to the concept of taking responsibility for one’s self. I don’t do this because I wish to say that Mr. Bush is a bad, evil person, nor do I wish to hold him up as a great example. He is currently a highly visible entity that plays out so well this continual shifting of power and its relation to responsibility.
I believe that Mr. Bush is working on an agenda, as most Presidents have, Democrat or Republican, that is pretty well unrealized by 95% of the US population. Bush has used the Hegelian tactic of creating a crisis. Three of his major crises that come to mind are: terrorism, a poor education system, and the burden of taxation. The media, which kowtows to anything that will sell, picks up on these supposed crises and fans the flames willingly for any promotable or well known figure such as the President. Suddenly we’re all in danger of being killed by a terrorist. Our society is going to hell in a hand basket because we have left some of the children behind what is “the norm.” All of us are suddenly suffering greatly from too many taxes. It is as if these things were new. Nobody has ever experienced these things before is the message we seem to get. Or that at the very least, Mr. Bush has had the foresight and wisdom to realize these problems for us.
Now depending on your perspective these may or may not be crises. Let’s just assume that we all agree that they are problems. What do we do with problems? Well, we could do one of two things: We could ignore them, or we could face them. Which is the easier road? In the short term, the first would appear to be. At this point my wife would probably say something to the effect of, “but I know I’m supposed to say the second one is better.” I think it all depends on your own perspective. The perspective I’d like to explore these two options in is from responsibility.
Let’s take the first choice, that of ignoring them. If we are doing this from the perspective of responsibility, at face value that is an impossible choice. It is impossible that is, unless someone else took responsibility for it. At this point we allow someone else to take responsibility for this problem. Take the above crises given to us by Mr. Bush. We now have the PATRIOT Act, and the Dept. of Homeland Security. We now have the “No Child Left Behind” program. We also now have (assuming you are a taxpaying US citizen) a few extra hundred bucks in the bank in support of tax relief.
“Great,” you say, “someone’s solved these problems for us.” I then ask, what was the cost? My answer is responsibility. “What’s the problem then?” you might respond, “I don’t need to worry about these things anymore, someone else is managing them for me.” The problem is what is directly tied to responsibility: power. When we allow someone or something else to solve a problem for us, we implicitly give power over to that entity. That power is the power to choose, the liberty to be who we want to be and do what we want to do.
When we don’t realize that giving up responsibility for something gives up power we lose much more than what would first appear to be lost. In addition to the loss of power we also lose a great deal through the side effect of not realizing this loss. There is wasted time and energy on frustration, confusion and fear. Since we still haven’t faced up to the problem, we don’t necessarily understand it. We are beholden to some other entity to tell us what the problem is exactly and what the best solution is to solve it. We subject ourselves to policies and ideas that the entity deems as correct. We bump up against these policies and ideas, find contradictions and feel bewildered over what they have to offer us. The real sympton to watch for, and where the real secondary loss comes from is when the “poor me, I’m a victim of [fill in the blank]” attitude comes into play. This case is dangerous.
When we become a victim we fulfill the central desire of a power seeking entity: feed it more power. The second power we lose is that of even realizing that we can take, or could have taken, responsibility for the problem. We are now so far off the beaten path of responsibility that the entity we gave responsibility to can bank on a steady income of whatever they desire from us. They do it all in the name of solving this problem for us.
Now I probably need to make a sidenote here in regards to those last two sentences. “What about those who won’t abuse this power? How is it wrong to give it over to them?” My response is two pronged: 1) how do you know for sure that a human entity will remain uncorrupt ad infinitum? and 2) how do you know that their solution is the best solution for you? I don’t think I am overstating when I say you’re a fool to think that a human institution, whether it be a single person or a large group, will be infallible, always know what is right for you and always execute things on those terms. Contrast the current popular view of the tobacco industry with the view held by many 30-40+ years ago of it being an industry seeking only after pleasure for its customers.
Back on track again, let’s consider Mr. Bush’s crises and has played out thus far.
First: terrorism. We now have a large bureaucratic entity entitled the Department of Homeland Security. Millions of tax dollars are going to funding this institution. How many or few lives this entity has saved that wouldn’t have been saved by existing institutions of government? Our “war on terrorism.” How much safer are we here in the US since we’ve attacked Afghanistan and Iraq? Didn’t the terrorists of Sept. 11th, 2001 actually live here in the US for a period of time before committing the crimes they did? How did going to these other countries and effectively taking them over by force remove anymore hidden terrorists here in the US?
Second: A Poor Educational System. How has the “No Child Left Behind” helped our educational system? How will taking over a poorly performing school by a group of people that have little to no understanding of the local people and customs improve that school’s situation? Are we better able to give a “well rounded” education to children because of this program?
Third: The Burden of Taxation. What sound economic principles founded the concept of a tax relief in the form of a rebate to the US taxpayers? How has this actually relieved the tax burden? In relation to the tax cuts that were put in place in the face of an increasing budget deficit, how will the interest that the government will need to pay to meet that deficit compare against the current reduction in taxes? Will this require our children to pay more in taxes?
Some of the questions may sound accusatory, but they are truly meant to understand the implications of Mr. Bush’s choices for us. Probably wasn’t the best choice to use the presidency of Mr. Bush as it tends to be such an emotionally charged topic for many people, but hopefully you are able to separate the emotion from the innerworkings of responsibility to see what those mechanics actually are and what their implications are.
All of a sudden the knock on effects of giving up responsibility can become clear. One result that I don’t think anyone would disagree with, whichever side of the political aisle you choose to sit on, is the extra money that will have been spent. All three of the issues I raised and the way that they have been administered by Mr. Bush inevitably cost money instead of the American people taking responsibility on themselves for these things. The argument that you are powerless to do anything about any of the situations is just a statement that your choice is to give up your responsibility. That is fine, just don’t think that you haven’t lost anything by doing so. You’ve gained more freedom in not having to face those problems, but lost it in your ability to control in some way the outcomes or solutions of the problems.