The High Cost of Irresponsibility

I have not posted a "philosophical" blog in quite some time. Usually, I like to talk about adventures or people I have enjoyed being with or places I have been. I suppose it is the preacher's itch that prompts a diatribe on a topic now and then.
I have been reminded again and again about the high cost of irresponsibility. The current economic malaise our country has been experiencing for the past couple of years is the most recent reminder. The irresponsibility of so many has brought our country to a very low and humiliating point. Irresponsible people who loan money to irresponsible people who spend more than they earn are some of the ones who have created the current problems. The high cost involved with this? We ALL bear it in one way or another. Some lose their job because the economy is bad. Some have to lay off employees or not hire additional people. The highest cost to all of us is usually additional government intrusion into our lives. With each "crisis" we are told that the government will save us from certain doom by bailing out the most irresponsible ones who created the problem in the first place and making those who have behaved responsibly and did not create the problem pay the bill the irresponsible ones created. It is insanity. Rewarding irresponsibility and penalizing responsibility is a recipe for enslavement by government. As more and more join the ranks of the irresponsible as they are the ones being rewarded by the growing government, there are fewer and fewer responsible ones to pay the bill. Soon, like a boat that grows top heavy, we capsize and everyone drowns.
It is easy to talk about "other people" and complain about their actions. But what are we, ourselves doing to contribute to this problem? Are we voting and participating in our governance processes? Are we spending more than we earn? Do we expect the government to make our life cozy and without problems or do we feel that is our own responsibility?
Many complain about government "waste" and prolifagate spending and "pork". But do we demand that the politicians we elect "bring home the bacon"? We hate our tax dollars being spent on other states projects, but want it for our own. We must examine our own wants and desires if we are to make headway on this growing problem.
From babies being born out of wedlock and their mothers joining the welfare ranks to the person who buries themselves in enormous debt with credit cards, consumer loans and outsized mortgages, we will all pay the high price of irresponsibility.
The problem is, when we are the irresponsible ones, we easily justify ourselves and do not see ourselves hurting anyone other than ourselves or worse, feel we have a "right" to our irresponsible behavior. We feel is it no one else's business that we spend more than we earn, or have sex with people we are not married to or take illegal drugs or abuse legal drugs. How then do we feel it is everyone else's business to bail us out when our problems overwhelm us? Why do we feel everyone must pay for the mess we ourselves created?
I am appalled at current ads advertising "we can cut your credit card bills in half", claiming that they will just magically wipe away money you owe to other people for things you said you would pay for. That is just plain stealing! Our government has enabled us to legally steal from others. This is a farce anyway as those so eager to wipe out our debt simply charge the amount to you that you supposedly "save" to pay themselves. So, in reality we are duped into enabling other people to steal from other people. Money we said we would pay to others is now being paid to someone else that does not have any right to it.
The correct word for irresponsibility is simply, sin. That's what it is. When we sin, it is a problem for everyone. Irresponsible behavior is sinful behavior. No matter what we act in irresponsibly, we are sinning.
This is a terribly unpopular message. Anytime a person raises a moral standard, we are told not to "impose" our morality on other people. What that really is saying is, "I am imposing my morality on you." The truth is, we will operate by someone's view of morality. It is also a farce that insisting on a high moral standard is imposing anything. It has ALWAYS been wrong to steal from others. It has ALWAYS been wrong to have sex outside of marriage. It has ALWAYS been wrong to lie. We are imposing nothing, we are attempting to enforce what has ALWAYS been. So those who accuse us of "imposing" our morality are actually the ones guilty of imposing a new, lower, less moral, morality.
In order to bring about any change, we ourselves must adhere to biblical, moral standards that God has set forth for us to follow no matter the contemporary aversion to moral absolutes. We ourselves must reject justification for our own irresponsibility and the idea that other people are responsible to clean up our own messes or to bail us out of our stupidity. Until we realize there are absolute consequences for sin that we might delay for a time but will eventually catch up to us and our children, we are all riding on a boat ready to swap up for down.