My English 101 Narrative: Politics. Not many people enjoy it, and most people are not even the slightest bit interested. Because of that, after reading the first sentence of this essay, most people would put this down right away and read something more intriguing. But for those who understand the importance of politics and how interesting it can be, they should know the history of my ideological and political roots. Ever since I can remember (about eight years old), my father would always have Fox News or MSNBC on the television, so I naturally became interested in politics. It was unusual for a child my age to be intrigued by politics and the actions of government, but I was. I thought the government existed to help the people in all ways, so consequently I thought that a large government was necessary in order to carry out tasks such as welfare programs and universal healthcare. And then one day, at age fifteen, I saw a simple online video that dramatically deepened my knowledge and literacy in politics. Before I talk about the video, just imagine this: A middle-aged woman wearing a long, silky, white summer dress is sitting on her porch, sipping fresh lemonade. The porch is attached to a huge colonial-style mansion, with beautifully trimmed windows, a towering brick fireplace, a large well-groomed lawn, and a guest house the size of a normal house. Parked in the driveway is a 1940s Bentley convertible, the most luxurious car of its time, as well as a modern Audi sports car. Now, all of those things she legally acquired, so there is no problem with that, right? But now she approaches a man standing nearby. She tells him that while she knew she couldn’t afford those things, she bought them anyways. Then she not only tells, but demands, that he should be responsible for paying the mortgage and the car payments because she doesn’t have the money to pay for it all. “Well of course I will! I would be glad to be a part of your problems and share in your irresponsible spending habits!” the man tells her. So he gives away his entire savings account to help her out, with joy in his heart and a smile on his face! Everyone who reads this is probably confused right now. They are saying to themselves, “I would never do that!” or “I’m not responsible for her problems!” And they would be right. The United States was founded on the principles of individualism, personal responsibility, and liberty. With such liberty, people also have the liberty to make stupid choices, like the woman in the story did. So there is no reason why people have a responsibility to help her, because they are simply not accountable for her. In the video I watched that deepened my political literacy, another woman makes a similar claim—that others should be held responsible for her problems. The video is actually a recording of a news segment that was posted on YouTube. The segment starts off with a news anchor explaining how a woman named Angel Adams “blames the Hillsborough County Sheriff Department Child Protection Team, and others, for her problems.” This automatically got me hooked on the news story. They go on to explain how Adams has fifteen children, all from three different fathers. Her fiancé, the man who fathered ten of the children, was arrested for drug possession, and since he was her main source of support for her children, she was evicted from her home when she couldn’t make payments. I felt bad for this woman when watching the video. I was hoping that somehow the local government would help her out by giving her financial assistance. Hope came when the owner of the apartment building that Adams was evicted from was interviewed. She said that several federal and state programs paid all of her utilities, grocery bills, and clothes for several months. The Department of Children and Families provided even more food, as well as paying for her $800.00 rent and furniture. At that point, I began to wonder how she had so much assistance from these different programs, yet she still couldn’t make ends meet. “Maybe the government should provide more funding,” I thought to myself. Then here comes the kicker: Adams then began to blame the same social services and sheriff’s department for her problems! She said that if the sheriff department had not arrested her fiancé, she would not have these problems. Adams also claimed that social services were not giving her enough money. (Like paying for rent, clothes, food, utilities, and furniture isn’t enough!) And if that wasn’t crazy, look at what she says next: “Somebody needs to pay for all my children, and equally share in my suffering. Somebody needs to be held accountable, and they need to pay.” This is when something inside me clicked. I had an epiphany, in other words. I realized my ideological and political views had been wrong the whole time. I don’t remember exactly what I did after seeing that news clip, but watching it now makes me stare off into space in utter shock. Adams honestly expected people to pay for her children, share in her suffering, and be held accountable! I scrolled through the comments section of the video, and everyone was on the same page as I was. I agreed with comments such as, “You’ve gotta be kidding me!” and “Accountability? The only person who needs to be held accountable is YOU! Close your legs if you don’t like being held accountable!” The video made me stop believing in the welfare system. I realized that if people like her mooch of the system and taxpayers, but they don’t do anything to help themselves, then a welfare system should not exist at all. So the first thing I remember doing was to Google search “political parties that support the welfare state.” I came up with the Democratic Party, the Socialist Party, and other left-wing liberal parties. So I scratched them off my “vote for” list. Then I searched “political parties that don’t support the welfare state.” After some research, I learned that even most right-wing conservatives in the Republican Party support a degree of welfare and social services. This led me to my final destination in the political party search: the Libertarian Party. I discovered that the Libertarian Party believes that instead of taxing people to fund a welfare system, the government should let the people keep their money, which could be used for donating to private charities to help truly needy people. Angel Adams was not a truly needy person. She was an irresponsible person who did not want to be held accountable for her problems and mistakes, so instead she tried to pass it off on responsible taxpayers. I understand that there are some people who actually need help. As for them, private charities, churches, and other organizations are out there to help them. The government could also offer more tax breaks for people who donate to charity. But a welfare system funded by taxes only makes responsible people have to pay for the irresponsible people, like Angel Adams. Why should people care about my political conversion? Why should they care about my baptism into libertarian philosophy, and why it is important to me? Well, libertarian ideology changed my outlook on life as a whole, not just politically. I now believe people should be 100% responsible for their actions, with no exceptions. I also now believe that people who feast off of others’ work and money should not be tolerated in society. My libertarian philosophy has even influenced my life goals. I now want to run for a national office, such as a U.S. Senator or a Representative, because I want to solve the problem of irresponsible “free-loaders” in our society, who believe everyone should suffer equally. Due to the video I saw on YouTube, I went from being on one end of the political spectrum, a liberal, to becoming a libertarian, the opposite of a liberal. To this day I still find it amazing how a simple, two minute video deepened my political literacy in libertarianism.
Posted on: Mon, 09 Sep 2013 01:56:09 +0000
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