The Ownership Society vs. The Ownership of Society

Former President George W. Bush coined the term "Ownership Society" referring to individuals being able to own their own homes, health care plans, 401(k)'s, and retirement plans. Conservatives have long followed a policy of self reliance when referring to ownership. What Conservatives and Republicans have failed at is taking a lead in taking ownership of society.

For too long the Right has bickered and ranted over the Left's assualt on America's values, institutions, morals, and policies. Yet when it comes to actuallytaking an active part in the civil process they have been content to catapult self serving politicians to the forefront to represent their values. Yet time and again these politicians fail to take a lead and represent those that got them elected in the first place. These representatives cater to lobbyists, corporations, and friends after the election. Their representatives consistently failing them, yet get re-elected.

The Right seem to forget everyday that most of them have been born into a system that has already been set up for them to succeed. From parents, churches, schools, neighborhoods, friends, and other organizations. While many minorities, poor, and destitute do not have the same opportunities. Yes there have been individuals who have elevated themselves to a higher station in life. Many remain left behind in the continued cycles of poverty, hopelessness, and a broken system.

If you are a successful person, or of the comfortable middle class take a moment to reflect back on all the teachers, mentors, coaches, church leaders, teammates, friends, and family that have helped contribute to get you to where you are today. Success is a team sport, while the individual contributes the drive and will to succeed. Now take a good hard look at those who do not have those same people to elevate them. They live in a perpetual system that constantly helps contribute to failure. I'm not going to say it causes the failure, but when there are few examples of how to get out of that cycle, where does one turn?

I am not trying to circumnavigate people setting personal, professional, and spiritual goals. Nor am I trying to negate personal responsibility for one's own actions. It IS up to the individual to change one's circumstances. The point is though those in the lower classes have fewer examples and resources to change one's circumstances. When someone is causing harm to themselves and/or others in your immediate circle with addictions or other harmful behavior usually an intervention is staged, maybe even by having that person arrested.

That is what is needed in this country, an intervention. An intervention politically, morally, and economicaly. The Right are the first to bicker when the Left enacts policy that take their money and wealth in the form of taxes and create welfare programs. The Right screams "throwing money at the problem will not fix the underlying cause." The what does the Right do? They turn around and write a check to a charity, raise money for a foundation, tithe to a church, or give money to a relief organization. Content that there are others out there to do the hard work involed in using that money for a worthwhile purpose. All the while asserting that statistically Conservatives give more money than liberals. Where is the action or personal responsibility on their part to see that money go where its suppose to go?

Where is the proactive conservative solution? The answer is buried under a mixture of underlying causes. Is it fear? Racism? Apathy? I do not know. People are afraid to venture into places where help is needed the most. We let the media keep us in a perpetual vertigo of news about crime perpetrated by the lack of resources in these poverty stricken areas. We are afraid of being mugged walking down the street by those who have less than us. Afraid of the thug wielding a gun or a knife to steal our purse or wallet. Yet we constantly open our wallets to white collar brokers on Wall Street to invest thousands or millions of our dollars without doing an ounce of due dilligence in where are money is being invested. And then are surprised that those people end up in the news about how they lost or stole millions and billions of dollars. What?!

When you own something say for instance a house, and you want to fix it up, remodel, and/or landscape and have the ability to do so. You go out and hire someone, or go and buy the tools yourself. If you have a vision or plan for how you want that house or yard to look you work closely with that person you hired or you do the work yourself. Regardless you have to play an active (keyword) role in that process in order to see your vision through.

If you want to get the property to conform to your vision in your head you must direct the work. Too many individuals hire an expert, pay them the requisite fees, then generalize how they want their property to look. Then they go off to their life for the day and leave these individuals to their own devices. All the while without direction those experts are back home making your property conform to their vision of what you want. If you have not communicated your vision to the expert, and the results are not quite what you expected. You have to live the results. You may be happy with part or most of the work, but I'm pretty sure that there will be elements that you probably would balk at. You go back and have the expert change what you don't like all the while having to pay that expert more. This is the equivalent of throwing money at a problem without fixing the underlying cause. The reality is you didn't take an active role in the process.

This is obviously an analogy for what is happening in America today. Americans have grown complacent, lazy, and too trusting in their confidence that there are other crusaders out there to do the hard work of helping socitey for us. While they are letting the results of someone else vision or plan for county come to fruition. It's time for the right to take ownership of society in order to see their vision realized. The Right if it is to be a force in politics in the years to come must put in the work, set the example, and lead from the front and not just in Washington, but in their own communities and maybe communities that are not their own.