responsibilities vs. rights

Terrie was born post-WWII and grew up in a society which prized, freedom, individualism and human rights. She saw many laws that had formerly placed restrictions on human behavior being amended or abolished -- and new laws protecting everyone's rights and freedoms being introduced -- and she deplores the new concept of government as a partnership of rights and responsibilities.

"By the late 80s, the full impact of our new freedoms were evident," says Terrie, "and I don't believe that what we had then is as bad as what we have now (and it was certainly better than what we started off with after WWII)."

"Instead of extreme poverty there was rampant commercialism; instead of marriages being held together by violence and fear there was widespread divorce and a host of single mothers; instead of rough tracks there were congested superhighways; instead of shanty towns there were massive high-rise housing estates; instead of a mass of uneducated cannon fodder there was a mass of high school and university graduates with nothing to do; and instead of rubbish tips filled with broken crockery they were now filled with discarded luxury objects."

"This is terrible announced an emerging new breed of politicians who began speaking about the inseparability of rights and responsibilities -- we must do something about this!" laughs Terrie. "But conveniently overlooked by these 'rights and responsibilities' politicians was that the problems they saw were the result of a massive shift in power from the privileged classes to the underclasses -- and a massive rise in world population, too -- and were infinitely better than the problems they replaced (that these new politicians were too young to have personally experienced)."

"Inherent in these new public policies designed to place emphasis on responsibility was a theory of scarcity -- of resources, oxygen, morals, opportunity, etc.," says Terrie. "These policies were ostensibly designed to place responsibility on individuals, but in effect they actually shifted power back to the upper classes (those in power)."

"From the 90s onwards, our rights and freedoms have been circumscribed by: (1) extensive and expensive pubic education programs ordering people to conserve water and energy, recycle, give up smoking, exercise, eat better food, walk don't drive, behave more responsibly, etc; (2) mutual-obligation programs designed to force the unemployed, disabled and single mothers off welfare to find non-existent jobs; and (3) social partnerships whereby government expanded beyond the confines of the public sector to harness the self-interest of corporations, special interest communities and influential individuals towards the public good -- i.e. enforcing (1) and (2)."

"Public policies designed to place emphasis on responsibility have even encompassed early intervention strategies whereby little children are brainwashed with a complex set of rules, virtues, dispositions and habits to ensure that their individualism is squashed in favor of the public good."

"What is this public good that they keep talking about?" asks Terrie. "Who, exactly, benefits from all of these measures? It appears to me that if all of us were brainwashed into suppressing our individualism and relinquishing our rights, certain people in positions of power and influence would be superbly placed to take advantage of the situation and the next generation would be right back in pre-WWII conditions."

"Personal responsibility is all very well, but social inequality, dysfunction and disorder are largely a creation of economic and structural factors -- matters that are properly the domain of government," says Terrie, "and it is a joke that the government is shirking ITS responsibilities by shifting them onto us!"

"We bestow upon the government a right to govern us, but with this right comes the responsibility to attend to matters of government -- creating jobs, keeping the economy going and providing services -- the big issues over which no individual, responsible or not, can influence."

"This new concept of government as a partnership in which we are all engaged on a deeply personal level is a con-trick and at no other time in our history have checks and balances been more necessary."

"Sure, I'll sort my garbage into metals, plastics and papers -- and I'll compost organic matter and stop using plastic bags -- to help the recycling cause," says Terrie, "but don't you dare tell me, or other citizens, to cut water and energy consumption, give up smoking, start exercising, eat better food, change to a fuel-efficient car, stay married, go to church and behave more responsibly. That's none of your business, get it?"

"When my responsibilities, as decreed by this new government of partnership, become legal obligations, punishable by law," says Terrie, "where is the reciprocal punishment for government when it fails in its responsibilities? Voting a government out of office is not commensurate with being punished with a criminal conviction for failing to use an energy-efficient washing machine, for instance, is it?"

"Governments are constituted of real people with as many imperfections as the rest of us have, and giving them the power to dictate to us what we can and cannot do for the 'public good' is a slippery-slope leading us back to terrible class disparities."

"Governments based on freedom and individualism present problems for the upper classes (more competition means less opportunity for them to prosper), and governments based on rights and responsibilities present problems for the lower classes (more restriction on their activities means less opportunity for them to prosper)."

"That I am even talking about class wars -- a pre-WWII preoccupation of my parents, something my generation never experienced -- is scary."

"Without past governments devoted to freedom and individualism we would never have the wonderful advances in technology that we enjoy today," says Terrie, "and these are the very things that current governments devoted to rights and responsibilities ultimately want to take away from us. Hello? My generation created most of these things and because I'm approaching retirement I have a very strong vested interest in wanting to continue enjoying these things!"

"And all of the current nonsense about global warming is designed to make us feel guilty about car ownership. Why? Because the guys in power want the super highways to themselves!"

"They want to enjoy all the fruits that were achieved by us when we were free to express our individualism under previous governments," says Terrie, "and they are deliberately brainwashing the next generation to be their obedient, responsible slaves."

"Nobody heard of ADD and other weird childhood conditions requiring medication when I was raising my kids," says Terrie. "We understood freedom and individualism and allowed our kids to express themselves."

"The concept of controlling other people -- for my good, or the public good -- is totally alien to me," sighs Terrie, "and the ultimate future might be a terrifying Orwellian scenario where governments gain total control by mandating a personal responsibility to take medication as a condition of citizenship."