Think and grow irresponsible
“It’s about taking individual responsibility for one’s actions,” said my friend John Landgraf, speaking of Laissez Faire City, a free market organization dedicated to fusing the ideas of Napoleon Hill (Think and Grow Rich) and Ayn Rand (Atlas Shrugged)–two authors who have positively influenced the lives of millions of people around the world.
“The moment we blame somebody else for our problems, we surrender our personal sovereignty and allow others to directly control our lives,” continued Mr. Landgraf. “It is all over after that point. We become victims instead of heroes. We forfeit our rights to happiness.”
The secret to success in life lies in being fully conscious of our thoughts and actions–of the long-term consequences of our decisions.
The 67-year-old retired Army Reserve Major who constantly complains of the unfairness of capitalism is deluding himself by blaming the market system for his financial problems. He gets nowhere by condemning the banks for “excessive” ATM and other charges. He gets nowhere by complaining of the high cost of airfare. Instead of wasting the past 40 years squandering his income on wine and women, he should have been saving and investing during his peak earning years. He has no one to blame but himself.
Sadly, individual responsibility remains a rare commodity these days. It is being rejected virtually everywhere you look in American society today.
The tobacco companies have been sued for “causing” the deaths of millions of Americans, as if individual consumers never had a choice in the matter–as if they really did not know that smoking actually posed a probable health threat. No, sir, the smokers cannot possibly be held responsible for deciding to smoke; the evil tobacco companies are totally to blame.
The Clinton administration has allocated $1 million in federal funds, in order to study the deleterious effects of violence in the media, because kids and criminals don’t normally act with violence: film, television and video games made them do it.
Following the example of the tobacco lawsuits, states and special interest groups have decided to sue gun manufacturers for the wrongful deaths and injuries caused by guns, because criminals don’t murder their victims: gun manufacturers do.
Soon we will no doubt start witnessing lawsuits against Ford and General Motors, for the wrongful deaths caused by drunks driving their vehicles.
After all, we already have aggressive assailants claiming that inanimate objects (juke boxes and the like), rather than their own hostile actions, caused the real damage to their victims.
When it comes to frivolous litigation and big government policies, unbridled irresponsibility is apparently a hot new growth industry.
