Accountability - Debt, Taxes, Bailouts and Abortion?

I think this post belongs after my previous post of books that have changed my life. Why? Because I'm going to be talking about something that I feel very strongly about as a result of these books.

Accountability. (Thanks Michael for helping my focus my thoughts for this post)

Before I launch into my comments though, I'd like to address the idea of Big Government. This has been a buzz word since the founding of our nation. Recently it has become a source of crucification for the Democrats. No doubt because of their propensity for wanting to implement social programs. I can agree that not all social programs need to be government sponsored, but even at the height of their power, the Republicans have never abolished the programs that the Democrats have implemented, and in fact have added a few of their own. (No Child Left Behind etc.) The argument of big government is a political smoke screen, lets ignore that debate from here on out.

Now for a discussion on accountability:

Debt

A number jumped out at me as part of the recent flurry of coverage on the govt. bailout. Our debt limit has been raised to $11.3 some odd Trillion. In my mind, excessive debt, and I think we can qualify this as such, is a perfect example of avoiding accountability. Somewhere, somehow we have accrued almost $10 Trillion in debt as a nation already. That debt represents spending that was done without the money to pay for it with the idea that somewhere down the line, someone else will deal with it. They'll actually pay for whatever we thought was so important. Why couldn't we pay for it? If it was that important, could we not as a nation have figured out how to pay for it? I may be over simplifying here and if anyone knows of a thorough analysis of how we got here I'd love to know about it. But to me, it seems like a serious case of instant gratification, and the desire to make the problem someone else's.

Taxes

Which leads to my next comment. I've heard quite a few arguments against the democrats that their social programs will result in higher taxes for us all. You know what? If higher taxes means we're actually assuming responsibility for our spending habits I'm all for it. I would love to see a bill passed that made it illegal for the govt to spend anymore than it received in the form of taxes. Then our society might not look to the govt to provide so many services. Maybe we might start to see pressure on the government agencies to trim the dead wood. (One thing I've learned in my time in the military is that as it stands, government jobs tend to attract, and retain, the under achievers.) If everyone started to realize that pretty much everything has a cost, we might start to realize that maybe we can do without. Also, and I realize this is pie in the sky thinking, maybe the lesson might sink into peoples personal lives and we'd stop seeing a negative spending average in this country.

Bailouts

I don't have much to say about the issue of Bailouts only to say I hope our government takes this as an opportunity to review how things are done and hopefully introduce some checks and balances into the system. Also, if it can be proved that any individuals were knowingly defrauding people or otherwise encouraging this bubble for their own personal gain, I hope they are held accountable for their actions to the tune of removing from them every penny of income they received as a result of their actions.

Abortion

Since declaring my support for Obama, I have received numerous questions (some polite, some not) about my views on Obama's stance on Abortion. My stance is that of the LDS church, abortion is only considerable in the case of Rape, Incest, or where the mother's life is at risk. That being said, if abortion were to be made illegal across the board, women who fall into either of those three categories would not have it as an option. So what about a law that only allows it under those circumstances? I'd be all for it. Do I think it will happen? Not at all.

Why not? Because I believe abortion is not the primary issue. At the root of the problem is our societies propensity for avoiding accountability. Young girls and boys that can't seem to find it in themselves to keep their pants up around one another, or even use protection, are trying to avoid the consequences of their decision. Women who view the child as an inconvenience are avoiding the consequence of a decision they made. This argument might sound callous but I really have never heard of another reason for which a woman might want to have an abortion. The argument of not being in a good enough financial situation, or not being married to the man is after the fact. The reality is that there was a choice made to engage in sex. Sex is the path to reproduction. I think at some level everyone knows that. Sometimes protections fail it's true, but if a man and a woman have sex, they should understand that pregnancy is possible. They chose to make that gamble.

So what about Obama? I disagree with him. What about the democrats and abortion? I disagree with most democrats. I have hope though. While listening to the DNC coverage I heard a piece on a growing faction of democrats that are espousing the idea of Abortion Reductions. These people believe that fundamentally abortion is not a good thing, but there are cases when it should be considered. As part of their program they are encouraging better and more thorough education plans (I know, another social program) to make up for the obvious failings of parents in teaching their children about accountability. I'm ok with this latter group.