This bailout thing has me pissed off…royally.  How has the greatest nation on earth….the nation that can do anything….the nation that was forged when a group of so called rabble-rousers stood up to the King of England…the nation that mobilized one of the greatest fighting forces in history and defeated Hitler….the nation that walked on the Moon….the nation with grit, determination, and know how….how have we sunk to the point where we no longer allow failure? 

Little Johnny has missed 90 days of school, but since “the test” will catch him next year he moves on ahead to fifth grade unprepared.  I mean we wouldn’t want his little psyche hurt, would we?

Little Susie gets a trophy for cheering because…..well, she showed up to one of the three practices each week and well….all the kids should get a trophy so everything is fair.

The end of the school year finds me scrambling for award titles I can give certain students…..the students who don’t deserve one…..the students who have to receive an award because the administrator sends out a directive that “all students must receive an award” mainly so said administrator doesn’t have to deal with the student’s mom or dad (more than likely the reason behind why the kid doesn’t deserve one in the first place).  These are the students who scream at me, the students who threaten me, the students who never complete an assignment, the student who I find on a daily basis hanging by one arm from the boy’s restroom ceiling, the student who bullies other students…..yeah, them.  They get awards too, because….well, we need to be fair, remember?

What we are doing with this type of mentality is creating a culture where noone takes responsibility, the work ethic is basically left for dead along the highway, and then we all have the audacity to stand around, wring our hands and wonder why in the hell education in the United States isn’t improving.

In our (yes, I participate, but only because I’d lose my job if I didn’t) culture of never failing we are actually doing the opposite….we are failing, and we are doing a magnificent job of it. 

So much so it has infiltrated the halls of higher education where students are ill-prepared, but walk about with an air of entitlement.  Our no failure culture has crept into the business world because that’s were those entitled college and non-college students eventually end up. 

….and now, our no fail culture has reached the hallowed halls of the US Capital.  The banking firms that are being bailed out have known for months…several months things were going south.  I mean, come on, you’re making money providing mortgages to folks with no….absolutely no qualifications.  Why?  Well, the non-working, no asset holding public deserves a nice home in the suburbs.  It’s a nice thing to do. 

No job or a job barely making $25,000, barely a car, no savings, and bingo! You’ve hit the jackpot.  You’re sitting pretty in a nice suburban home with three bedrooms, a front lawn, and a real driveway.  Soon your neighbors get upset with you because your grass needs cutting, and they aren’t too happy about the cars lined up along the street because the driveway is for the grill and the parties, right?  And suddenly those mortgage payments become due and as the months go by the payments begin to increase because you didn’t read the whole document.  The cry goes out, “There ought to be a law….how dare those mean mortgage companies make people sign mortage deals they can’t handle?!?” 

Then as the foreclosure signs go up and home after home on your street is abandoned and left derelect there comes the cry, “These people can’t help it.  Something should be done to help them keep their home.”  They have no responsibility for taking on a debt they couldn’t handle.  Why?  Well, why should they?  I mean what’s government for….it’s there to help people, isn’t it?  The government should make sure those people keep their homes.

….and now….

The banks can’t get rid of their foreclosed properties fast enough, the money that was supposed to come in from all of those fantastic sub-prime deals didn’t materialize (why would they think it would?),  they’ve borrowed money from other financial institutions to stay afloat creating a house of cards that flew to the floor last week.  Once again the cry rings out, “Oh my gosh….we can’t let them fail!  Something must be done…..they must not have any responsibility in this.  Why?  Well, why should they?”    

John Q. Public is ready and waiting to foot the bill.  We pay taxes and don’t even realize we’re doing it.  We pay...

Funny though….if you really take a minute to notice…..the politicians are busy pointing to the folks on the other side as the culprits in the mess but the only people taking the responsibility is the tax payer.

Until we understand as a nation that government is not there to wipe our rear ends, hand us a bottle, and burp us….until we understand as a nation that each of us holds the responsibility for our own version of the American dream….until we understand that as parents we, not the state, are responsible for our children’s education….until we understand that owning a home is not a right it’s something we do when we can afford it… then this mess will continue. 

Responsibility…..silly, silly word.