The Pillar of Citizenship

{link » Recessional: The pillar of conservatism is fiscal responsibility}

“Why? Balancing budgets and saying no to always expanding government, first, is a moral issue. Just as the individual does not borrow from others to satisfy his own appetite, does not consume what he does not earn, so too government should not spend what the nation has not produced. The conservative, as the custodian of ancient morality, must remind the populace of the thriftiness of our ancestors that explains the bounty we inherited. If not he, who will say that life is not fair, that human nature is predictable and thus tragic, that in our brief corporal lives we can guarantee an equality of rough opportunity but hardly mandate an equality of absolute result — since we are mere mortals, not gods?”
 — Victor Davis Hanson

In my humble opinion, the pillar of conservatism can be generalized to the pillar of citizenship and, indeed, the pillar of maturity: personal accountability. Nothing says "I am a mature American citizen" like the assumption of personal accountability. You break it; you own it. Case closed.

Consider the likely consequences of widespread responsible citizenship &mdash substantial reduction in the hordes of: ambulance chasers; insurance salesmen; octuplet births; scumbag politicians (think Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, Rod Blagojevich, Roland Burris, [name your favorite scumbags here]); idiot politicians (think Nancy Pelosi, Harry Read, Joe Biden, [name your favorite idiots here]); Holyshitwoods (think Sean Penn, et al.); obnoxious f*cks (think Teeth D'Olbermann et al.); inane gen-xyz-ers who don't know shit from Shinola; and the list goes on.

Real Man of Genius: Joe Biden


Post #648: The Pillar of Citizenship