"personal responsibility" is bullshit - disjointed disenchanted thoughts...

so I caught the first part of NOW this weekend...they were discussing health care initiatives. nevermind that providing universal coverage through the government would actually decrease the cost of health care...there were some seriously disturbing statements made by the "personal responsibility" (read "frightening asshole") crowd. first statement, in regards to children (among the millions) that do not have health coverage as of now in this nation (the supposed "greatest nation on earth" that can't even afford to give kids simple medicines)...explaining that we need to wonder about the responsibility of the parents for those kids - implying that they shouldn't get free coverage because their parents fucked up. ok...for arguments' sake, let's go ahead and say mom is a crack head and dad is in prison...what the hell does a six year old kid have to do with those "choices"? when did that little kid say "hey, give me parents that can't afford to take care of me!" scary...

the next point from the we-can't-give-people-access-to-health-care crowd...if we offer people universal coverage, they will go to the doctor too much. seriously...this is where we are in this country...going to the doctor is considered a bad thing. in a nation where the number one killer is preventable disease...we are worried that people will be too healthy. because if they were responsible...they wouldn't bother getting preventive health care, that would just be irresponsible and wasteful.

and why aren't these people ever up in arms over "personal responsibility" when it comes to insanely bad investments made by Big Corporations? instead they and their Big Business loving screw-the-little-guy friends have absolutely no problem bailing out businesses that make incredibly stupid investments in other nations with your tax dollars...it's known as ex-im, the united states' export credit agency. it pays companies when they make brain dead deals with incredibly poor countries...with your money. and the companies have no "incentive" to make good investments...but I guess "personal responsibility" stops at the entrance to wall street...

if it is all about taking "personal responsibility" for poor decisions (nevermind that those decisions are based upon bullshit fed you by the conservative elite over the last 30 decades...bullshit like the myth that if you do right by your family and work hard you will be taken care of)...why are you having so much trouble? why is someone like me...a white kid from the suburbs that went to great public schools, a top-notch public university, professional school and now working as a coat and tie minion struggling to save a cent? make all the "right" decisions...and you still get the shaft.

and then there is the paris hiltons of the world...who make every wrong decision in the book...but thanks to the monied aristocracy in this country, will never have to worry about it.

and people complain about higher taxes...and how they don't want to pay taxes for civil services because the government can't spend their money better than they can. to you I have a challenge...add up everything you spend on every bullshit insurance you have to own...life, homeowners/renters, auto, health, dental, pension, etc...and ask yourself...just how much of your pay check are you actually getting? because you know...if the government provided a basic level of existence commensurate with human dignity, you could get all that for a hell of a lot less in taxes.

some random schmuck spills the grand jury info about balco and gets three years...anyone else that gets caught with a bit of crack gets three points (adding years to a sentence under the sentencing guidelines in federal sentencing) for "obstructing justice" anytime they fib a bit to investigators. a rich, white, conservative asshole gets three years in a camp...and it is too harsh for the boy king's liking...so he puts "personal responsiblity" aside (perhaps because he and his minions set him up as the fall guy) and commutes the sentence to nothing.

if "personal responsibility" and making the right decisions is the key to getting ahead...then why is there more social mobility in such socialistic hot beds as scandinavia than there ever was in this nation?

anytime anyone tells you it is about "personal responsibility" what they are really saying is that you are totally on your own and you are completely screwed if disaster is to strike. those of us that have some semblance of sanity recognize we are all in this together...and that when we act like it, everyone is better off, growth is more sustainable and wide spread, and the economy is stronger (and if you have an mba here is a hint - history has proven your study wrong again, and again, and again, and again).

imagine if all the people that are left out under the current political system and economic theft got together and took "personal responisibility" for the world...imagine the horror that would overtake the "personal responsibility" crowd when they realized just what that really meant...imagine a world where "growth" meant you were better off, and your neighbor, and his neighbor, and her neighbor, and their neighbor.

you know exactly what I'm wishing...