Thursday, March 5, 2009

The Blame Game

Ayn Rand said that civilization is the progress toward a society of privacy, that the primitive was a public, collective society.

That is true, but we're a long way from that ideal. The thing I believe we need to see before we get to a truly individualistic/private society is progress from collective irresponsibility to individual responsibility. Quite frankly though, I’m not seeing a trend in that direction.

In the last couple of months I’ve heard Individuals blame banks for the sub-prime mortgages they had, like the bank had tortured them till they signed the documents.

I’ve heard the Banks blame the government for their sorry state of affairs, like the government had forced them to ignore all prudent banking practices and make the majority of their loans to bad risks.

And finally, I’ve heard the Government blame capitalists for being greedy in spite of the fact that the industries that have been hit the hardest during this economic were the most heavily regulated.

The blame runs from the individual up to government and then back to the individual. Who’s going to stop this particular Buck?

Nope, don’t look at me. I’ve already taken the responsibility to NOT spend more than I can afford.

Want to blame someone?

Look in the mirror first and make damn sure you shouldn’t be blaming that guy.

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