Why are we in this mess? What happened? How do we get out of it? All questions on the minds of most Americans that are even slightly paying attention to our current economic situation. Those that aren’t asking those questions can continue to live blissfully ignorant, which must be really nice. Forget that CEO’s took to much money; consumers that spent too much money, and all the rest. Those aren’t the causes, it comes from a lack of thinking about consequences and that extends through every facet of our society.

There no longer seems to be that fear of consequence and what better way to prove it than the bailouts? We give companies that failed money, and does anyone really think that they didn’t know we would do it? They knew it would be there when the time came. If the penalty for poor workmanship on any level of society is not getting fired or being removed from the position then we are all doomed, which by the way things are going might just be the case.

The fear of losing your job if your performance isn’t up to par is what makes the lazy, the dimwitted, the inept, perform above the level of work they would naturally perform at. Of course everyone is saying, “If I did my job like these CEO’s did, I’d be out on the streets!” Well that may be true for some people, but for many it isn’t. Businesses are essentially forced to keep underperformers on the job for fear of litigation. Employers cannot say that a former employee was fired for poor workmanship because that person could sue them for undermining their income if the next company doesn’t hire them.

Not to worry, it’s not your fault…ever. If you slip and fall in a store, it’s the store’s fault, not yours. Millions of dollars should be awarded to people who are incapable of walking properly; that makes sense right? Also, if someone falls asleep with a cigarette in their mouth and burn their house down it’s not their fault, it’s the cigarette company’s, obviously enough. Now everyone who smokes has no other option but to smoke the chemically enhanced, horrible tasting “fire safe” cigarettes because some dolts fell asleep and burned their house down. If you bought a house for more than its value and more than you could afford, you still deserve to keep it and I and every other American deserve to pay for it. Don’t we want everyone to be happy and live in their dream homes? Look at what a wonderful it’s been and how nicely it’s working.

***
Failure really isn’t an option anymore. It’s not just a saying for NASA, it’s for the masses, the government, the banks, the super wealthy. It’s created a nation of poor decision making fools. There are still a few people out there who believe in making the right decision, but they are undoubtedly in the minority. Even if they make the right decisions they end up cleaning up everyone else’s mess. Once upon a time in this great nation, you were rewarded for your success. When someone failed they learned from their mistake and unless they were insane they didn’t make the same one twice. People with less “education” were more intelligent because they had common sense, which only comes from learning from your mistakes and observing the world around you. Let people make mistakes and not be rewarded; let people succeed without penalty. These are foundations America was built on and principles that guided us to a level of human achievement not previously seen. Abandon them and leave behind success, prosperity, and the unique character of American culture we were once known for throughout the world.

Long before the internet, rumors of America and her opportunities spread from person to person in every corner of this earth. Our reputation spread only because it was so unheard of and so powerful. What was underlying dream? Opportunity. The opportunity to succeed or fail, but just the opportunity alone was enough for them to leave everything they knew and pursue it in a foreign land. That is the American Dream, not getting something for nothing, not living off of someone else’s hard work.
When consequence is eliminated from the thought process and becomes irrelevant there is no reason for a person to make the correct decision. The fear of failure is necessary for success and is all too often absent. The reason consequence is no longer present is because of our government’s infiltration (at the request of the masses) into our daily lives in almost every aspect. Now all the failure that we’ve been preventing is finally catching up to us and it’s going to hurt. To succeed we must fail, but it doesn’t need to be apocalyptic failure that seems to be on its way. If the individual parts of the society could fail and fail alone they wouldn’t bring the rest of us with them. Something would take their place if it was necessary and if nothing happens we don’t need it.

Instead, we’re going to cause America to fail as a whole. Then there will be a lot of mistakes to have learned from, but I would honestly like to see you or I fail alone, instead of all of us failing together. Why not just commit to and follow the foresight of our founders and let America be what it was supposed to be? A nation for the individual, where they are free to make their own decision and not have the outcome be the result of government interference, whether it is success or failure. No one said American experiment would be pretty all the time, but no other society had more integrity built into it at its founding. America was built to allow natural cycles like success and failure to work, but modified versions of them cannot work and will never work.

We continue to prop up failures in every arena. Auto companies don’t know how to run their business, so let’s prop them up in keep them in business. Financial institutions took too many risks and lost money so let’s throw some more money at them. People bought houses with variable rate mortgages when they could hardly afford the introductory rate. Let’s start holding people responsible for their mistakes so that the rest of us could succeed when we make the right choices. Contrary to what President-elect Obama might think, we are not our brother’s keepers; Americans should be no one’s keepers but their own. That stands the same for us as citizens and our government as a nation. Nothing else is more American than supporting your own. Don’t promise to take care of us we don’t need your help, promise not to stand in our way. Everyone needs to do their job, I’ll be doing mine.

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