So: Who's Responsible?

We are. The voters. The American electorate. You and me.

And we have abandoned our collective responsibility due to avarice, greed, laziness.

I began formulating the question this past weekend. Who really is responsible for the current plight of America? I don't mean strictly at this specific point in time; I'm thinking of, say, the past twenty, thirty years or so. Then I began to mentally step back even farther.

And here's what I concluded:

This country will be in much better shape when my generation completely dies off: the Baby Boomers. Baby Boomers, those born between 1946 and 1964, are responsible for more navel-gazing, more irresponsibility, more self-centeredness, more arrogance, more entitlement-demandation than any generation before or since. William Jefferson Clinton, Hillary Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Hussein Obama are all Baby Boomers.

Now, most Americans most definitely want their cake and consumption. Before BBs, kids used to work through college if they could. Now, they demand college, default on loans and boast of it. Free college for illegal invaders, some now demand. And, oddly enough, those who worked their way through college discovered how the world really works much sooner than our coddled and pampered and protected kids of today.

But that's okay because today's kids always have a "fallback" -- their parents. They know full well that their guilt-ridden parents -- those who rushed their kids to soccer, to band practice, to T-ball -- will take them back into the fold. It's a great job if you can get it.

This nation used to believe that parents were responsible for their children. Fathers worked and mothers cared for the kids, as horrifyingly sexist as that sounds. "Bad kids" were ostracized from local groups. It "paid" to be good because most all the neighborhood adults watched over the actions of the juveniles. One phone call from some parent about your negligent actions resulted in serious consequences.

Then the media jumped in. Gloria Steinem, Betty Friedan jumped in. Being a mother was ridiculed, demeaned and caricturized. But equal rights didn't mean just equal rights -- it meant superiority over the traditional male and his role as leader. Except, of course, when equal rights didn't quite mean equal rights. US women didn't fight wars, didn't want to, weren't drafted, never have been. Women morphed into men and men became Metrosexuals and pussies. Lazy, New Age female teachers pushed Ritalin on boys in class because boys couldn't or wouldn't sit calmly like little girls. Women now are bemoaning the fact that their life expectancy in the modern world is beginning to decline -- directly due to stress, work, responsibility. Time to hold up your end of the log, womyn. GTFOI.

Divorce rates soared. Now, single-motherhood is a woman's right -- and to hell with the child. It isn't about the child, it's about the mother. Same for abortion. Except -- who's getting aborted? Why yes, statistically blacks would comprise the largest numbers. But, hey, that's freedom, eh wot?

Speaking of blacks for a moment, we can all thank Lyndon Johnson and his Great Society. You know -- the one that ripped black families asunder and PAID black women to rid themselves of black men and, essentially, create generations of black, fatherless underclasses due to welfare?

"If you wish to judge a tree -- look at its fruit."

This nation decided -- made a conscious decision -- to abandon love, duty, honor and self-sacrifice in order to glorify the government, the provider, the entitlements. And people became not only enamored of but completely dependent upon the "safety nets" provided by the G.

Why? Because people wanted the safety nets. They were easy. They required little thought and, moreover, even less work.

And all run with the precision and efficiency of your local DMV.

What happened to the Land of the Free, the Home of the Brave?

Why are those who espouse individualism, freedom, liberty and self-sufficiency branded as radicals?

So now, this moment: where is the weak link?

I submit that it is the bulk of America:

• The America that votes for every bond measure on the ballot.
• The America, in tort cases, that thinks: "you know, if that were me at the plaintiff's table I'd want the money."
• The America that thinks taxation is the key to every success.
• The America that is sufficiently stupid not to realize: no money comes from Washington. Money only comes from the Mark I, Model I American Taxpayer.
• The America that shrieks for safety, for comfort, for security, for mental pablum.
• The America that disdains challenge, strife, conflict, contretemps, competition.

Someone once wrote: "We can go on singing patriotically, deluded that we're somehow still a Superpower because of technology. But weak people and powerful technology don't make a wholesome couple. We may not know that. But the world's terrorists do."

BZ