The concept of interdependent responsibility is not as foreign to westerners as it may appear. It is at the bottom of our tradition of democracy. We are responsible to one another to ensure that the process works; if it does not work, that means that not enough of us are involved.1
We cannot really complain (though we often do) that we do not get the candidates we deserve to represent us, because each of us is free to join a political party and participate in nominating candidates, if not actually run for office. Every eligible voter is then free to participate in electing those who will conduct our public affairs.
John Rawls, professor of philosophy at Harvard University, wrote in his 1983 book A Theory of Justice that, under our system, we cannot "shift the responsibility for what we do onto others. Those in authority are accountable for the policies they pursue and the instructions they lay down, and those who acquiesce in carrying out unjust commands or abetting evil designs cannot in general plead that they did not know better or that the fault lies solely with those in higher positions...The essential point here is that the principles that best conform to our nature as free and rational individuals themselves establish our accountability."
According to Rawls, you cannot have liberty without responsibility. If members of the public fail to exercise their citizenship by voting and making their opinions on issues known, the way is open to actual or de facto dictatorship. Political apathy begets political weakness. To cure the weakness, people have proved themselves willing to surrender their independence to strong autocratic leaders who promise them stability.2
Rawls maintains that a feeling of civic responsibility cannot be forced; it does not depend on the threat of deprivation or punishment. What is true of the collectivity is true of the individual. As psychologist Stanley Milgram wrote, "for a person to feel responsible for his actions, he must sense that the behaviour has flown from self."3
Milgram went on to comment that it is easy to ignore responsibility when one is only an intermediate link in a chain. Ignoring responsibility can never make it go away, however. As in other aspects of life, political irresponsibility is largely a sin of omission.4
As the American Roman Catholic Cardinal John Wright pointed out, "evil does not just happen." It is not the work of blind, neutral forces. People perpetrate it of their own free will, and other people acquiesce in it of their free will by allowing it to go on.
Cardinal Wright wrote of "the moral disasters" which overtake mankind. The disasters which threaten us now are both material and moral. When scientists talk about the greenhouse effect, the destruction of the rain forests, acid rain, water pollution, overfishing and the other threats to life on the planet, they are talking about irresponsibility.5
Irresponsibility is nearly
always traceable to people doing what they want without regard
to anyone but themselves. If a person does not do what he or
she should do, somebody else is left with a burden. Its impact
can be immediate, as when an employee fails to do what is
excepted[sic] expected of him and a workmate has to cover
for him, or in the future, as when a profligate father dies
without having provided financially for his family. The
irresponsible ecological, fiscal and political practices now
plaguing the world fall into the latter category.
How we can all live up to our responsibilities as householders, workers and citizens today has a direct bearing on the future. Historically--at least from the decline of the Roman Empire on--the standards of personal conduct have set the tone for the standards of conduct on a mass scale. If individuals behave carelessly and selfishly, the way is left open to collective careless and selfish behaviour. So if the present generation is to demonstrate that it will not allow irresponsibility to ruin life for future generations in this interdependent world, it must overcome its moral apathy.
1-LINK TO FAT RUSSIANS PHELAN TERM, LIST OF 56 U.S. SUBMISSIONS, AND "Umpire's Decision"
2-EXPLAIN ABOUT STABILITY, NOT SOLIDARITY, BEING MY CHOICE, AND LINK TO GORBACHEV PAGE.
3-SURE, I KNOW THAT IF (USING "SPECIFICITY" HERE)
THE PARTICULAR INDIVIDUAL AND HIS SUPPORTERS ("THE
COLLECTIVITY") ARE WILLING TO ARGUE FOR MONTHS--DURING
WHICH TIME THE RUSSIANS DECIDE TO BLOCK PASSAGE OF THE 'SALT II
TREATY' AND 'START II' TREATY--I AM LIKELY OPENING MYSELF UP TO
(DARE I SAY?) "MORE OF THE SAME" IF I SUGGEST HERE
THAT, WHEN THE AUTHOR SAYS, "WHAT IS TRUE OF THE
COLLECTIVITY IS TRUE OF THE INDIVIDUAL," IT IS A REFERENCE
TO THE FUNDAMENTAL LEGAL PRINCIPLE
OF EQUAL JUSTICE APPLIED TO ALL AND EACH
INDIVIDUAL.
NONETHELESS, PRESUMING THAT THE PRESIDENT WHO
PROMISED "NEVER [TO] LIE TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE"
IS GOING TO GIVE ME/"ALL OF
US" ACCESS TO THE 1978 DOCUMENTATION IMMINENTLY, I
WOULD NOTE HERE THAT I DID AT THAT TIME REFER TO
AUTHORIZED GRAFFITI (THE CITY GOVERNMENT LET SOME STREET ARTISTS
DECORATE SOME WALLS ADJACENT TO A CONSTRUCTION SITE) I SAW IN
VANCOUVER. ON ONE WALL WAS WRITTEN (PARAPHRASING FROM MEMORY
UNTIL "ALL OF US" SEE
WHAT JIMMY CARTER IS GOING TO DO):
"THE LAW, IN ITS WISDOM, PUNISHES THE RICH AS WELL AS THE POOR, FOR STEALING A LOAF OF BREAD OR SLEEPING IN THE STREETS."
4-...OR, IN OTHERS WORDS, SINS OF INACTION?
5-AS THE 6/26/1978 EDITION OF NEW TIMES ARTICLE, 'THE BOMB IN YOUR BATHROOM' (BY EVE PELL), STATES:
"THE GOOD NEWS: SOON YOU WON'T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT DESTROYING THE OZONE LAYER. FEDERAL REGULATORY AGENCIES HAVE BANNED (EFFECTIVE DECEMBER 15) PRODUCTION OF MOST FLUOROCARBON PROPELLANTS, WHICH ARE BELIEVED TO EAT AWAY AT THE OZONE, OUR ONLY SHIELD AGAINST THE SUN'S CARCINOGENIC ULTRAVIOLET RAYS. AEROSOL SPRAYS WILL HENCEFORTH RELY ON NEW ENVIRONMENTAL FORMULAS (AS THE LABELS SAY) TO PROPEL THE PRODUCT FROM THE CAN TO YOUR BODY."
5-LINK TO JEFFERSON ON INFORMED OR POWER AND NOTE WHAT HAS HAPPENED IN THE TEN YEARS SINCE THIS WAS WRITTEN...OR THE TWENTY SINCE I DID THE 1978 COMPONENTS OF MY "INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC WORK...ON A DIRECT BASIS" FOR THE WORLD'S CHILDREN...EXCEPT THE "UMPIRE'S DECISION" <SUMMARY HERE OF PERSONAL SACRIFICES...>
TAKE YOUR NEXT FOOTSTEP HERE TO MARCH 16, 1988 VANCOUVER SUN ARTICLE, 'BANKER SLAMS UNCHARITABLE FIRMS', AND MARCH 27, 1992 VANCOUVER SUN ARTICLE, 'BANK BOSS CITES "TOOTHLESS TIGER FATE"' AND MENTION ROXANNE, who has left OXFAM and entered the private sector, as have Muldoon and Turner, and link to terms about cheating on college theses
DON'T THINK THE WISDOM OF THOMAS JEFFERSON IS PASSÉ YET IN WHAT YOU ARE ENTITLED TO FROM YOUR GOVERNMENT? LET YOUR VOICE BE HEARD: TAKE A BRIEF SIDESTEP HERE TO SIGN MY GUESTBOOK.
ON THE SUBJECT OF ACCOUNTABILITY--THE SCOPE OF RESPONSIBILITY--IN THE YEAR 2001, TAKE YOUR NEXT FOOTSTEP HERE.