BY RUSSELL TURNER
POLITICIANS AREN’T SUPERMEN
I guess we all have had heroes in the past. When I was a child I can remember being a devotee of Superman comic books. Superman was never wrong or evil and his only ambition was to do good in the world. As I grew older I came to admire John Wayne the movie actor, in my eyes he had many of the same qualities as Superman. While there have always been good men and women in the public arena, we need to remember that they are humans just like the rest of us and are plagued with the same imperfections that cause all of us problems.
Recently I read an article that reported on a survey by MagnifyMoney; in the survey they came to the conclusion that after spending money on holiday gifts, a majority of Americans are "broke." 56.3% of people surveyed have less than $1,000 combined in their checking and savings account. While it is easy to listen to the crop of presidential candidates claim to have all of the answers, in my opinion we Americans need to be looking a little closer to the problem; namely in the bathroom mirror.
Every New Year countless people make New Year’s resolutions to lose weight and get into better shape. It doesn’t make any difference who is in the white house whether we are successful or not losing weight, it always comes down to if we have the personal discipline or not to succeed. On the financial front it doesn’t matter who is in the white house, he won’t be able to wave his magic wand and get anyone a better job. Nor can he help anyone gain skills that will enhance their earning power, or make anyone start spending less and saving more. Nor will some socialist solve our problems by waving his collectivist wand and taking money away from the top 1%, and then depositing it into the bank accounts of those who can't muster up enough money to buy a few bags of groceries. While it is true that the actions of the President and Congress do have an impact on the economic well being of the nation, for most people the answer to their financial problems begins from within. It begins with an attitude that says, "I accept responsibility for my actions."
I have always believed in personal responsibility, it has always been a part of what makes us Americans. We have allowed the political class to culture an environment where too many Americans blame anyone who has more money than they have as taking more than their "fair share" from "working families." The reason so many people have so little money is because of a lack of skills employers are willing to pay a lot for, or bad and excessive spending habits, or a failure to plan for the long term. Granted that there are circumstances such as illness and injury that can cause financial hardship, but for the most part many Americans in bad financial shape made some not-so-good life choices that led them there.
Personal responsibility requires us to be informed on governmental issues and who we elect to public office, but it also requires making the effort on our own personal level and not relying upon government to make all of our personal decisions.
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