The New Ideas Blog

A politics of personal responsibility demands that we understand the consequences of laws or government actions that we support. We should also consider political candidates we support as our “agents” meaning we’re somewhat responsible for the choices they make since we hire or elect them. With that in mind, I have decided on a new rule for what or who I can support. I’ll get back to that in a moment, but first I have to relate the true story that inspired me to write this.

The Associated Press on September 29, 2009, reported on the case of a woman in Michigan who (more…)

It is easy to imagine that we can do the right thing, and that we can know what the right thing to do is, but is it so? We are so influenced by desires for things and what we want to be true that it colors everything we see if we allow our minds their usual ways. Let’s look at an example.

Suppose a politician long ago said “vote for me and I’ll force future generations to pay for you to quit working and relax.” People vote for him, and the “social security program” is created. To make it look fair people pay into the plan as though it is a retirement fund. But that’s for appearances only, since (more…)

Most of us will never be in a position to greatly influence the politics or national policies of the country. It isn’t that it’s impossible. Whatever we may think of Barack Obama, his successful campaign was a pretty good indication of the potential for a relatively unknown person from a modest background to have a huge impact in national politics. But few of us are willing to do what he has done, nor do most of have any interest in playing politics on that level.

Furthermore, though we may participate in the creation (more…)