Entry 162: Who Are The Idiots, Really?

Another re-post from my small-government-lovin', gun-totin', freedom-fightin' Facebook friend.

You know you live in a Country run by idiots if...
You pay your mortgage faithfully, denying yourself the newest big screen TV while your neighbor defaults on his mortgage (while buying iPhones, TV's and new cars) and the government forgives his debt and reduces his mortgage (with your tax dollars). ~Big Daddy

I'm not sure who "Big Daddy" is, but it doesn't really matter.  Frustratingly, a lot of people in our country agree with his sentiment -- the "nation of takers" sentiment -- not enough to win the presidential election, thankfully, but a lot.  Being as such, I thought I'd comment on Big Daddy's comment.

I don't think the scenario he describes ever really happens; at least not as he describes it.  If you have one neighbor who runs up debt and defaults on his mortgage, the government doesn't give a shit.  If you have two or three neighbors who do this they still don't care.  But when enough people in your neighborhood are under water, and enough people in other neighborhoods are also underwater so there's no way to replace your deadbeat neighbors with good neighbors, then, yeah, some government intervention is unfortunately necessary.  What's the alternative?  Would Big Daddy prefer his neighbors all go into foreclosure, with no place to go, and no new prospective tenants?  Does he want a bunch of abandon houses on his block?  Does he really want to live in a shitty neighbor-less neighborhood?  Has he thought about this at all?

In case people don't remember, we got hit pretty hard in 2006, and still haven't recovered.  The overall amount of private debt we accrued when the housing bubble burst is massive.  Well over a million people went into foreclosure on their homes.  Even if this was completely caused by irresponsible loafers who bought iPhones, TV's, and new cars instead of paying their mortgages (which it wasn't, but I'm just playing along, here), even if that's the case, here's the thing, it still effects all of us.  It's still our problem.  It's not fair, fine.  It sucks, I agree.  But it's reality.  I too wish other people's bad choices didn't impact my life, but they do.  Sometimes we need the government to clean up after irresponsible people, not out of some sense of bleeding-heart liberalism or radical socialism, but because nobody else is going to do it and responsible people don't want to live in the mess.  It's not idiotic, it's unfortunately necessary.       

And one quick related thing on responsibility.  Tea-bagging types love to go on and on about personal responsibility, which is fine, I'm all for this as well.  But whenever people like me advocate laws that force people to be responsible (or least limit irresponsibility) -- laws that, say, make people own health insurance, or limit their possible credit card debt, or make them save money for old age, or require them to take gun safety classes before buying a gun -- they scream big-government tyranny.  What's the deal?  Tea-baggers apparently want to live in a nation where every man is responsible completely out of self-volition, and if he isn't, his irresponsibility will only hurt himself, no other person in society will be negatively impacted.  Actually that sounds pretty good.  I decided that I want that too.  Oh, and I'd also like world peace and a 95 mile-per-hour fastball -- I always wanted to play professional baseball.

Until next time...