PROBLEMS: Root is responsibility

I am writing in response to Chad Solsvik’s “My Turn” published Friday, April 6. I had originally considered a point-by-point retort, but for the sake of length decided against it. I would, however, like to ask a question or two and offer some insights.

First I would be curious to know from where Mr. Solsvik acquired his information, information he attributes to “Republican leaders.” The term is left undefined and he cites no sources which might be used to back up his claims. Instead we are allowed to witness straw men being built and subsequently attacked with pillows, albeit with a few missed swings.

Second I would like to prod Mr. Solsvik’s third point. Said point is in response to the statement, “The economic collapse is the poor’s fault; they borrowed money they couldn’t repay.” As previously stated, no source is cited for this statement. Of course it would be ridiculous to state that the poor collapsed the economy all by themselves. Primarily because the economy did not collapse.

Furthermore it is not only the poor in our country who live beyond their means. According to a Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco letter dated May 15, 2009, the U.S. household debt-to-income ratio peaked at 133 percent in 2007. That was the national average. That means it is reflective across income categories, rich, poor, middle class. That number has come down somewhat (114 percent in June 2011), but is indicative of a widespread misunderstanding of the ever elusive “American dream.”

To the surprise of many the Declaration of Independence contains no reference to the self-evident rights of home ownership, free health care or abortions on the dime of your employer. We actually don’t deserve to have everything given to us.

Had we been educated somewhere besides the United States’ failed 100-year experiment known ever so kindly as K-12 public schools, we might have the combined math and critical reading skills to understand that when you take out a mortgage you can’t afford, you end up in foreclosure. When you bury yourself in credit card and student loan debt, of course you end up bankrupt. And when you have a national epidemic of people attempting to live beyond their means, ending up broke, with creditors getting stiffed — of course the national economy suffers.

And you know where the burden of responsibility for that lies? On you. And on me. This is a massive national problem, the absence of personal responsibility. And the solution comes not from government imposing regulations, but from people putting their big kid pants on and self-regulating. This extends to health care, social welfare, and really, the vast majority of political issues.

A representative republic such as we have is at the mercy of its people. This is perhaps why George Washington in his farewell address said the following: “Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that men claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens.”

There has been an organized push to do exactly what Washington warned against. We have cast off religion and morality in the sense that he meant them, and have thus cast off their restraints. These, however, are necessary for us to function as a nation.

So my plea to your readers is this: think. Think about what you believe; question it. Don’t merely swallow everything you’re being fed on the Internet, TV, radio, even the local paper. You need to search for truth. Don’t look for something you like. Don’t look for something comfortable to believe. Look for truth.

WILL DOLE

Plummer