The concept of personal responsibility is making a gradual exit from public discourse. To emphasise it these days typically brings a raised eyebrow in response. But it’s a concept that every single libertarian must fight for as that notion is one of the those lying at the very heart of our political philosophy.
Reports this week beautifully illustrate the fact that libertarians have their work cut out for them. The BBC’s economic editor, Evan Davis, recently gave a report about the scale of debt in Britain and raised the question “who is to blame for getting us into all this debt?†The wording of the question didn’t bode well for anything resembling the sensible answer to be voiced, as the question itself implies the existence of some big bad wolf of debt pulling the strings that make us puppets dance to some given tune (“Money, Money, Money†or “Money Makes the World go Round,†perhaps?). With a roll of my eyes and a shake of my head I did the pleasant and polite thing and I let Mr Davis present the rest of his report before I shouted at the TV and called the BBC a “bunch of useless, ignorant, Bastards [yes, with a capital “Bâ€] with nothing but shit for brains.†Or words to that effect. And then I stormed out and took my temper out on my long-suffering drum kit.
Mr Davis gave us two alternatives. The first was “it’s all the fault of the big banks for lending us more money than we can afford to repay.†Banks are much too lax with their money lending and more people than ever are going bankrupt as a result. Damn banks, eh? Thrusting that money into people’s wallets against their will. Forcing us to spend well beyond our means. Bastards! The second alternative: “it’s all the fault of debt management companies.†Wait a minute. Aren’t these people helping to reduce our debt? Not so suggests Mr Davis. In fact they simply make us think that getting out of debt is easy, which actually means we are less likely to put up resistance when the banks force money on us against our will. That was it. That was our choice. Which one do YOU think is to blame? The report ended and the BBC newsreader moved on to another “More Lebanese Massacred by Israel†story, in their most neutral and unbiased of voices of course. Anyone wishing to know the definition of a false dichotomy need look no further than Mr Davis’s report. Two alternatives offered as if that exhausts the options, when in fact neither is correct.
In the search for something rational and accurate I tried some other media. From one source I learnt that “it’s all the fault of high street stores.†Yeah, those pesky stores, eh? The buggers suck us into their shops through some physical and/or psychological mechanisms currently beyond the reach of modern science, raping our wallets, and throwing us back on to the street like a used Kleenex when we’ve nothing left to give, with no evidence of the crime except the store card occupying the place in our wallet where the stolen cash used to be. Another source added “it’s all the fault of consumer culture.†“Consumer Culture:†a particularly nasty beast. If superman was alive in the world today then this would surely be his nemesis. Not only does “Consumer Culture†force us to bankruptcy, it destroys the planet, devastates the family unit, tears the very fabric of society to shreds, and I bet it mugs little old ladies to boot. Don’t let your kids out to play in the street when “Consumer Culture†is around, whatever you do. Don’t say you haven’t been warned!
I did come across one other theory that I found incredibly attractive: “it’s the fault of the government.†OK, this sounds better. Whenever there’s a problem you can indeed bet your ass the government has a hand in it. The government tends to be to problems what petrol is to forest fires. What has the government done? Well, for a start they have significantly contributed to the escalation of property prices. Prices go up when demand is high but supply is low, and thanks to impenetrable planning laws and over-regulation of land for building houses the government has effectively choked housing supply. The chancellor Gordon Brown is also guilty of fiddling with interest rates which, although set by the Bank of England, are not independent of inflation: which Mr Brown has kept artificially low by excluding major items such as mortgages in his calculations. And it is Mr Brown’s policies that have ensured a steady supply of cheap money for banks to throw at people who can’t afford to repay it. Furthermore, people don’t have as much money as they should have to spend on things they want because of government taxes, thus making the rate of borrowing more likely to increase. Despite earning a relatively low salary I still manage to pay £160 in tax each month, and £90 for National Insurance. Thanks to Mr Brown our disposable income is much less than what it should be, and that’s not including the extra taxes on virtually every item we buy when the high street stores suck us in to their thieving embrace. So, yes, I’ve some sympathy for this argument. But it still doesn’t hit the nail on the head.
Try as I might I couldn’t find anyone with either the balls or the brains to raise their hand and admit the fact of the matter. So, I‘ll have to do it myself: “it’s primarily the fault of the people themselves.†The other complaints are largely chimeras. This answer is often dismissed as “too simplistic,†but to me that’s the beauty of it. Sometimes the easier answer is indeed the correct one, despite being the bitterest pill for people to swallow in our age of “it wasn’t me, it’s not my fault.†But, no one is forced against their will to buy a brand new Ferrari, red of course. No one is forced to run up massive bills on high interest store cards. Banks don’t march people in at the point of a gun, shine a light in their eyes, and poke them with pitching forks until they sign on the dotted line. Free will. What a great gift. Not as good as a new Sony Playstation, but not bad nonetheless. Unfortunately it must be exercised, and many people find themselves far too lazy.
It’s not too difficult to do either. I earn below average wage and will be paying off my mortgage for the next 22 years. This is my only debt, and it’s budgeted for and insured. I don’t have a single credit card to my name. No store cards. My hands are strong enough to tear up junk mail offering me massive home improvement loans. My mathematics is sound enough to ensure I don’t spend more money than is in my bank account, and I’ve heard of this wonderful invention for people who aren’t so sound – a frickin’ calculator. And, to be honest, “Consumer Culture†can’t make me feel that I lack a bunch of “must have†items.
Put simply: I act responsibly. I make decisions about my life and accept the consequences. I live within my, fairly meagre, means and the grass is perfectly green thank you very much.
So as the concept of personal responsibility makes its exit from public discourse we need to make sure that it doesn’t go quietly. We must shout it from the roof-tops of our over-priced homes.
Stephen Graham