Newell Fonda High School
Newell, Iowa
Teacher: Connie Doonan
The Role Of Personal Responsibility In Balancing Individual Liberty And The Common Good
By: Mitchell Banks
12th grade
When do things stop being the state’s responsibility and start becoming a problem of the people? Should it be up to the people to maintain parks and public bathrooms? Is it really that tough to walk a few more feet and throw a wrapper in the trashcan rather than on the ground? The answer is no. The people should be held responsible to some extent for public facilities. It costs money to hire city workers to clean up messes like that, so people who aren’t contributing to the mess you see in public are still paying for it. The community should be in charge of community upkeep.
There are obvious cons to a plan like this. Perhaps it won’t get done as often as it needs to if no one is getting paid for it, but therein lies a positive. People would be less inclined to mess up these things if they know it won’t be cleaned up so easily. People seem to think it’s ok to throw a scrap of trash here, or stick a piece of gum there because they figure that someone else is going to pick it up. This sounds a lot like a small child that leaves a mess at the dinner table. If the parents never teach the child to clean up after themselves, they never will because there will always be someone else to pick up after them. So if the city stops picking up after them, maybe they’ll learn. The only way to make progress is to think of the people as a whole. Everyone needs to be held responsible for his or her community and surroundings. This will give people more unity and make it more frowned upon for one to litter or not pick up after themselves.
No matter how hard we try to instill these type of ideals into people, there will always be a few out there who aren't going to care and will just leave a mess for someone else. That kind of person is inevitable no matter what the policy is, but the idea mentioned above would decrease those kinds of people and at least, some people to care a little more about their surroundings.
People are
not willing to put anyone else ahead of them anymore. This "Look out for #1"
mentality is not doing anything for our communities. A single person simply
cannot maintain communities. They require the people as a whole to do their
part. It sounds cheesy and cliché, but we all own our community, and we all need
to be a part of it in order to keep it decent. Whether that part is picking up a
can off the street or organizing a fundraiser, we can all do our part.
Many
people today are selfish. They don't think beyond themselves so they honestly
don't care about their communities or even consider making sacrifices for the
greater good. So we end up with people leeching off of the government and
leeching off the communities, claiming to be disabled and claiming to be
unemployable. It's hard to decipher between those who need the help, and those
who just don't want to work for their money. There is no simple answer or
solution that can be summed up in a single essay, but if people keep up the way
they are, government will end up cutting everyone off, and some people that
actually need the help will suffer because of it. Morality is not something that
is instilled, as it should be in America. Some people are out to catch the first
free ride they can get and are not willing to work to get by. If people looked
after themselves, as they should then this would not be an issue. The people
that honestly need help would not get it because people do not want the
freeloaders to get their money. When people see the donation jar and the pack of
gum at the gas station with their last dollar, nine times out of ten the person
will not even consider the donation. Either because they are very selfish, or
they do not think that person deserves their money, which makes it hard for
those struggling to get by.
Communities should be in charge of keeping the community in order. It is not
hard to do your part. Donate, do not litter, be productive. If nothing else,
people could just remember to flush when leaving the public bathroom. When
people make the decision to throw their trash on the ground, they need only to
think of the five or ten other people doing the same thing expecting others to
pick up after them. These are our communities and the problem is only going to
get worse if the citizens do not start thinking of these things.
Answers To Questions Prompted By The Required Reading
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.”?
People buying on credit with no thought to how to pay it back, therefore hurting the economy and “stealing” from taxpayers.
2.Machan said: “For that which is common to the greates number has the least care bestowed upon it.” Give two examples of this from your personal experience.
A park with garbage all over. A disgusting public bathroom.
3.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. A mother says to her 10 sons “One of you need to take out the trash by tomorrow.” So they all wait around thinking “There’s nine others. Someone will do it.” But they all think the same thing and it doesn’t get done. Whereas, if the same mother had only two sons they might think , “My brother may be busy. I should take care of it.”
4. State Kershner's First Law. Do you agree or disagree and why?
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 agree. The people at the top will keep taking from everyone and keeping it for themselves.
5. What industry was the first to be taken over by government in both ancient Rome and the USA?
Transportation
6. Is cheapened money the cause or the outcome of inflation? Explain.
It is the cause and outcome. If the land is flooded with cheapened money, prices will skyrocket. When prices go up, people need more money to buy things meaning more of the same cheapened money is circulated.
7. How did the Edict of 301 affect Rome's economy?
Inflation
8. Lee claims that individuals could be "entirely independent of others" except for what? Explain.
Scarcity. People want things and to get them they must interact and compete.
9. Describe the dilemma concerning rules as discussed by Lee.
If there was no rule, the one with the most physical strength could rule all.
10. Why is the concept of private property crucial to freedom?
So people have something of their own to run the way that they like.
11. Argue both pro and con that in his testimony Lawrence Reed was advocating compassion and aid for the poor.
If we aid the poor too much they won’t learn how to make their own living and if we don’t aid them at all they may be stuck in a cycle of poverty.
12. "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.
Free people’s income won’t be equal because some will choose certain careers that they are interested in and will make them happy, possibly in exchange for lower wages.