Whose Fault is it Really?

You know it is amazing to me where we are today in America.  I read my local papers and listen to talk radio and I just can’t believe how powerless we all seem to feel.  Most comments, even the ones from so-called conservatives, seem to blame the government or big business or foreign countries or anyone else for all of our woes.  Somehow the mortgage crisis, gas prices, the falling dollar, illegal immigration and everything else is the government’s fault.  Well, the truth of the matter is it is our fault as a society.  Hate to say it but the fault lies with you and me.  See I am a big believer in America and Americans.  I think that we have the greatest nation on earth filled with the greatest human beings on earth.  I think there is nothing that we can not do.  But somewhere along the way we have lost our self-determination.  We have lost our accountability.  It is always someone else’s fault and someone else should always bail us out.  This thinking is terminal.  I believe that if we continue to go down that road we are doomed as a society.  Take out a risky mortgage and now face foreclosure, well that is the lender’s fault for tricking me and the government’s fault for not protecting me.  Should lenders who took advantage of less knowledgeable buyers be punished, absolutely but ultimately the person signing the loan needs to understand that by getting a lower rate they are taking a risk.  It is blackjack with your residence, sometimes you go bust.  Gas prices are outrageous.  I agree but we as a society have said it is ok to be reliant on foreign oil.  When gas prices were $1.10 a gallon, were we as consumers pushing the market for hybrids and alternative fuel sources?  No, we were buying 12 mile per gallon SUVs.  Now it is the government and the oil companies fault that we are facing oppressive gas prices.  Well, no the blame is on us.  We tend to want the thinking done for us these days and we always seem to look at the government to do it for us.  This has been an environment that began during the depression and has been fostered by every administration since.  Read this line carefully.  The government does not have the answers, we the people have the answers.  The government can not solve all our woes.  We have to do it, by changing, by being more active in society, by thinking beyond what is in our pocketbook today.  We have to just think for ourselves and understand that there are consequences.  Happiness breeds apathy.  If it isn’t affecting us today we don’t seem to worry about it.  This has to change or we will be complaining about far worse problems in the near future.