Burlington High School
Burlington, Kansas
Teacher: Devra Parker
The Unique Role of Individuals for the Communal Good
By Geoff Reeves
12th Grade
The role of personal responsibility in balancing individual liberty and the common good is a very complex issue. There are a seemingly endless number of circumstances that affect the role of a single person and the outcome on a population’s common good. This issue is not a recent [development]. Different ideas have been brought forth and experimented with to promote liberty without sacrificing a country’s economic stability.
First, liberty centers around freedom. In the great country of the United States, liberty is the backbone of its foundation. Inhabitants fled from England and other divisions of Europe in search of a place for their own freedom. In our country every person is equal before the law. It is the notion that we should be judged innocent or guilty of an offense based upon whether or not we did it, and our race, sex, wealth, creed, gender or religion should have nothing to do with it.
Unfortunately, liberty equality presents itself in a different form. This type of equality has to do with economics. It is all about material wealth and income. The free people of our country are just that, free, but they are not equal. They choose their own destiny based on what they feel is right, and because of this choice they will make different amounts of income and sundry levels of wealth. Everyone is different in terms of talents and values. We are also different in the amount of willingness we have to work. Some people are motivated on their own to go out, and do their best. It starts at a young age. In high school there are all different types of students. There are honor roll students that go home, do their homework, and study for tests to improve their knowledge. There are also the students that sleep in class, don’t take anything home, and could care less what they get on their next exams. Should both types of students end up making the same amount of money in the future? No, of course they should not. I’m an economically equal society they would. We might have free society as far as liberty is involved, but economically it is completely contradictory. The hardworking student might go to college, earn his degree and become, possibly, an accountant. The lazy student might not go to college at all. If he finishes high school, he might end up working in a construction business. It is only fair that the hard working student makes a substantial amount more money than the other. It is the reward for all the years of hard work they have put forth.
The same concept applies inversely. If people are economically equal, then they will not be free. For people to be economically free, it wouldn’t matter what job they did; they would make the same money. People be have to be forced to go to work and there would be no motivation to improve.
Second, the common good is a very vague term. What is the common good? In any country, the common good revolves around the government. Without government the country would be in total chaos. Most people expect the government to provide everything we might take for granted. The only way this is possible is through taxes. In 2001 the average American paid about $7,000.00 in taxes. It is the personal responsibility of every person who makes money to pay their taxes. Of course, much of this money is taken out of workers paychecks or companies profit so it isn’t like it is coming directly out of a pocket. Companies have to pay taxes twice. First, they pay for the products they produce. They also pay taxes through their workers’ pay checks. There are many categories the government spends its money on. Some of the money spent most Americans might disagree with because it doesn’t affect them. That is because the government isn’t spending its own money. Nobody spends somebody else's money as carefully as he spends his own. Without taking money from the population first, there would be nothing to give back. It is said that a government big enough to give us everything we want is also big enough to take away everything we have. Taxes are the cost to each American to be provided with everything they expect from the government.
Some of the
individual responsibility of every person might not sound fair or like the
absolute best means of creating success for our country as a whole; but it
works. It is why the amount of Americans that are fed, clothed, and housed is at
such a prohibitive level. It is the duty of every American to do his part and
keep the crucial element of liberty in our country alive.
Answers To
Questions Prompted By The Required Reading
Welfare State on the Street Where You Live
(Tibor Machan)
Q1- Why does Machan
use "steal" in his statement: "Private property solves this problem, but was
abandoned a long time ago when taxes reached the point where we can steal our
way to being provided with all sorts of things we desire, never mind thinking
about paying for them or long-range budgeting."?
Machan uses the term “steal” in his statement because he is referring to how taxes you to be so much more less then they are now. With the way taxes are now we pay for not only what we what but much more because the tax goes to the government. A long time ago taxes were not as high and we only paid for what we actually wanted, to look back on it, it seems like we were “stealing” is because it was so cheap.
Q2- Machan said: "For that which is common to the greatest number has the least care bestowed upon it." Give two examples of this from your personal experience.
At my house my mothers has a few nice dishes. They are much more valuable then our normal set of dishes because there are so few of them. When we use them we use more care then when we use our normal dishes.
I also own a large quantity of sneakers. I don’t care to get them dirty or rough them up a little bit because I can just go get another pair to put on. However, I only have one set of nice dress shoes, which I am always careful to keep clean and in superior condition.
Q3- Do you agree with Machan that "...everybody is more inclined to neglect the duty which he expects another to fulfill; as in families many attendants are often less useful than a few."? Give an objective example of this.
Yes I agree with Machan on this point. It is just like if you are in a crowd and you get mugged. There could be a large number of people see you in trouble, but they would all expect someone else to act upon this so nobody would help. If only one person saw you getting robbed, then they would know you depend on them for help, therefore they would go to find help.
Are
We Going the Way of Rome?
(Lawrence
Reed)
Q4- State Kershner's First Law. Do you agree or disagree and why?
Kershner's First Law: "When a self-governing people confer upon their government the power to take from some and give to others, the process will not stop until the last bone of the last taxpayer is picked bare." I do agree with Kershner’s First Law. If this happens nobody will ever be satisfied. That is why there is the need of the government to control these types of decisions.
Q5- What industry was the first to be taken over by government in both ancient Rome and the USA?
Clearly, the state gradually became the prime source of income for an increasing number of Romans. The high taxes needed to finance this drove business into bankruptcy and then nationalization. Whole sectors of the economy came under government domination in this manner. The first industry in Rome to be taken over was transportation-shipping. Captivatingly, the first industry in America to suffer comprehensive control was also transportation-specifically, railroads.
Q6- Is cheapened money the cause or the outcome of inflation? Explain.
Cheapened money is the outcome of inflation. Prices rise when the government prints too much money: Inflation is an increase in the overall level of prices in the economy. High inflation is costly to the economy. Large and persistent inflation is caused by rapid growth in the quantity of money. Policymakers wishing to keep inflation low should maintain slow growth in the quantity of money.
Q7- How did the Edict of 301 affect Rome's economy?
Demanding relief from economic disorder, the people of Rome cried out for a strongman. He arrived in the person of Diocletian who, in the year 301, imposed his famous "Edict of 301." This law established a system of comprehensive wage and price controls, to be enforced by a penalty of death.
Liberty and Individual Responsibility
(Dwight R. Lee)
Q8- Lee claims that individuals could be "entirely independent of others" except
for what? Explain.
Lee claims that individuals could be "entirely independent of others" in a world without scarcity. Each person could have complete freedom in many activities and not impact anyone else, but because we live in a world of scarcity this cannot happen. People must interact with each other and this shapes the rules for social conduct.
Q9- Describe the dilemma concerning rules as discussed by Lee.
The rules of social conduct that Lee is referring to impose restrictions on the activities of individuals and establishes the important distinction between liberty and license. Although, without these rules, scarcity itself would impose an even more confining set of limits.
Q10- Why is the concept of private property crucial to freedom?
When liberties are constrained only by broad limits imposed by the role of private property, then a system of social communication and cooperation is established within which the liberty of each individual is compatible with the liberty of all. Under the rule of private property the freedom exercised by one expands the options over which freedom can be exercised for all.
Lawrence Reed's testimony before the U.S. Senate Budget Committee.
Q11- Argue both
pro and con that in his testimony Lawrence Reed was advocating compassion and
aid for the poor.
Lee argues that a pro of advocating compassion and aid for the poor is that people will still be themselves. They will do what they want, what they enjoy, and what they are good at, no levying their choice so much on how much money they will make. A con of Lee’s avocation is that some people maybe become lazy. The poor might start to depend of the government for money and not work to earn it themselves.
Q12- "If people are free, they will not earn equal incomes; conversely, show me a people who have equal incomes and I will show you a people who are not free." Explain in your own words Mr. Reed's meaning.
If people are free, they will do whatever makes them happy. Some people really enjoy working on cars and car engines; those people will be mechanics because that is what they want to do. Other people enjoy math and may become a CPA. The CPA might make much more money then the mechanic but that is what they give up to do something they truly enjoy to do everyday of their lives. If everyone was equal incomes then they might not be working at a job then want to be doing.