In discussions with Tea Party supporters, I often encounter the strongly held belief in personal freedom over governmental control. Being a person who strongly values freedom, I am drawn to try and hear what they have to say. What seems to always be missing from their argument, however, is the notion of responsibility and how it relates to freedom. It’s a very old concept and an extremely simple one.
Eleanor Roosevelt
“Freedom makes a huge requirement of every human being. With freedom comes responsibility. For the person who is unwilling to grow up, the person who does not want to carry his own weight, this is a frightening prospect.” -Eleanor Roosevelt
This quote simply points out some common-sense universal wisdom that is neither liberal nor conservative. If you gain the freedom to own guns, then you also gain the responsibility of using them safely. If you gain the freedom to drink alcohol (or smoke weed for that matter) then you also gain the responsibility of ensuring it doesn’t destroy your life. If you gain the freedom to have abortions then you also gain the responsibility of preventing unwanted pregnancy in the first place. If you gain the freedom to burn fossil fuels then you also gain the responsibility of ensuring it doesn’t destroy the planet.
These aren’t laws I speak of, just innate relationships between freedom and responsibility that can be observed everywhere. In all cases there are debates about what the laws should or shouldn’t be. There are those who want to de-legislate because their innate right to personal freedom is being violated. Then there are those who want to legislate because too many who gain the freedom do not adequately manage the responsibility that comes with it.
I agree that personal freedom is something we don’t have enough of in our society. I just disagree with the strategy of pursuing freedom as a goal unto itself. If we want more freedom, we must earn it by becoming more responsible. The more responsible a society becomes, the less government it requires. There are no short cuts!
Unfortunately, you either don’t think about or choose to ignore the fact that someone must decide what defines responsible. If it is not the individual themselves, then who?
Shall I be given the right to tell you what is responsible?
Personally, I believe it is the responsibility of every head of houshold to protect and defend those inside that home. Logically, a person would have a much better chance of defending their home if they were armed…. Shall I be allowed to mandate firearms ownership and training to all citizens?
It sounds like you’re confusing laws with responsibilities. Humans create laws, while responsibilities are innate. Laws try to enforce responsibilities but they can never do so perfectly, and therefore can never be a substitute for responsibility. Laws are just a form of damage control. They don’t address the root issue, which is lack of responsibility.
Responsibilities are common sense things that anyone with a functioning conscience will tend to agree on, like don’t gun down old ladies for sport. Don’t become an achoholic and abuse your children. Don’t be careless and get pregnant when you don’t want a child. Don’t destroy the planet.
What I’m trying to get across here is that most of our annoying laws that limit personal freedom are only there because of irresponsible people who don’t listen to their own conscience. Governmental control is an imperfect strategy for protecting ourselves from these idiots, but until we find a strategy that works better we are sorta stuck with it.
Maybe we could make this more concrete with a real example. Can you give an example of a current law that enforces a responsibility that you disagree with?