Individual Shared Responsibility

Individual Shared Responsibility

Kevin Bryant 

The title of this is a little confusing isn’t it? It was confusing to me this morning when I started my car and the first words out of the radio speakers were “Individual Shared Responsibility”. My first though….. “What The *&^% Does That Mean”. Yes I am a Christian yet I am nowhere near saintly so your imagination on what *&^% stands for is very likely accurate. Later on in the program, I got the meaning of it.  

Go ahead, Google it. The first 5 items to pop up are all about Obamacare and meaning of Individual Shared Responsibility. Obamacare and the definition was the theme of that segment of the show. 

To put your minds at ease, I will tell you now this little posting of mine has little to do with Obamacare. Let’s break down the phase “Individual Shared Responsibility” a little shall we. “Individual” = One, “Shared” = A distributed or equitable portion and “Responsibility” = having a duty to deal with something or of having control over someone.  

By definition, you can have an individual responsibility, we all have them or you can be part of a shared responsibility. Everyone in the military, law enforcement, firefighting, team sports participant to band member all know well the meaning of shared responsibility. You can have an individual responsibility within a shared responsibility but only our idiotic government could come up with the term “Individual Shared Responsibility”. Could someone PLEASE send me a definition of where this term would make sense outside of ObummerCare? 

Obama talks a lot about “Shared Responsibility” and “Shared Sacrifice” but how often does he speak about individual responsibility and individual sacrifice? Shared sacrifice is a communist idea: Everything done for the collective good. America has always been a collection of individuals, but each different and that has always been what made America different. Little by little though, we are giving up our freedoms for the collective good. Remember the days when seat belts were not required? Remember the days when bike helmets were not required? Remember the days when you could ride in the back of a pickup?  

“Individual Shared Responsibility” is nothing more than a nice way to say “we are taking your freedoms for the collective good”. In reality when you think about it, who’s good are we surrendering things for? Not our own. Not our families? What are our responsibilities as Americans? Take care of ourselves, take care of our families. Educate and look out for the welfare our children. Pay a fair part of our wages to fund the government. Be a productive member of society. Educate ourselves with the individuals running for office so we can make intelligent choices when voting. Educate ourselves to the issues of government. Yes, these are our individual responsibilities but nothing on this list compares to our #1 responsibility when it concerns the government: To be forever vigilant of our government and enforce the idea that government works for us, we do not work for it. That doesn’t mean 51% of Americans work to provide for the majority of the 49% who get welfare from the government. 

What sacrifices are those on welfare who are able to work making? Why doesn’t the Obama administration call it what it really is, pay more taxes so we can buy more votes, take more vacations on the tax payers, pay back the cronies who bundled millions of dollars for his campaign. Mostly, so government can control more of our lives.  

The only sacrifices many Americans should be making are those that benefit us and our families only. Our military, firefighters, law enforcement and other public servants that put themselves in harm’s way for our protection, we owe more than just our gratitude for their sacrifices, but those that choose to not work because they think jobs are beneath them or we owe them something though they have yet to work a full day in their lives, those that choose to not be productive citizens and perform their individual duties and responsibilities as American citizens…… screw them. They chose their lives, let them live with the consequences.