The Culture Of Irresponsibilty

     There is a school of thought that proclaims that as a nation, we must change our culture before we can ever hope to change our politics. The purveyors of this theory, of which I am one, have chosen the importance of culture over politics to the continued liberty and happiness we have enjoyed as a nation for over 200 years. There are those who are flummoxed by President Obama's almost instinctive ability to deflect an accounting of his actions and words, or any responsibility for their failed results. This is not surprising to me, considering he was formed with the ladle dipped into the well of our culture poisoned by Leftism.
     Barack Obama's absence of rectitude is endemic of a culture which has lost its moral bearing and drifts rudderless in a sea of moral relativism and situation ethics. Much of our culture has been tutored by the Left to shed the burdens of individual responsibility in favor of a more general and collective guilt for our sins. The current occupant of the White House is a reflection of ourselves as we look into the mirror of our cultural life as a nation.
     Every day I am shocked evermore by the increasingly gleeful acceptance that many Americans have for dishonesty as a constant companion in their lives. This dishonesty takes many forms, from denting some one's car in a parking lot and not leaving a note, to efforts to mitigate that which belongs in the realm of personal responsibility, such as health care. The object of the exercise of modern American life seems to be to weasel out of as much personal responsibility as possible and place it squarely on the shoulders of someone else.
     The fact that Barack Obama was able to transform the mortgage industry into a pseudo-charity, using taxpayer money to help those in trouble on their mortgages, is a testament to Americans' willingness to rescind their contractual obligations. What was so breathtaking about the Obama administration's actions to "help" those with mortgage problems, is that it was the first time in our history that the federal government inserted itself into private contracts on such a mass scale. But the deeper issue is that, as a nation, we have become less responsible in our commitments, and more  dishonest in our dealings with each other.
     So we can complain until our throats are too soar to complain anymore about politicians with no visible signs of probity, but it is we as the governed who must change the culture that produces such corrupt governance. As Cassius said to Brutus in William Shakespeare's play, Julius Caesar, "The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves..."