I spent the last hour searching for the citation for a column by Charley Reese titled The 545 People Responsible For All Of U.S. Woes. I never found it. But I learned a bunch about Charley Reese. Mr. Reese wrote for the Orlando Sentinel newspaper from 1971 to 2001. After retiring he wrote a syndicated column until August 2008. Here’s a 2006 column simply titled Responsibility:

Responsibility

by Charley Reese

If I didn’t have to transmit my copy by computer, I would be writing on a typewriter instead of on this computer, which yesterday refused to work for reasons as mysterious as the subtlest passage of the I Ching.

My knowledge of computers consists of the on/off button and clicking on icons with a mouse. When what is supposed to happen doesn’t happen, I’m sunk. I believe this computer knows that I despise it. Several times it has provoked me into using foul language, and once it provoked me to slap it. I make that statement in keeping with America’s new motto, which is, “I ain’t responsible for anything.”

Of course, I am responsible. It’s my temper and my choice to say or do what I say or do. The computer is a dumb, inanimate object, simply a glorified calculator with storage capacity. These days, however, many Americans desire to blame someone else or something else for whatever they do or for whatever happens to them.

That’s because some folks view the tort system as a trip to Las Vegas or as a lottery. If they are involved in a single-car crash, then it’s the car’s fault or the road’s fault. If they are stupid enough to get out of a car when live power lines are laying on it, it’s the power company’s fault that they die. If they get fat or harden their arteries, it’s the food industry’s fault. If they become drug addicts, it’s the drug dealer’s fault. If they stupidly shoot themselves, it’s the gun manufacturer’s fault. Et cetera, et cetera, and so forth.

“Responsibility,” like “frugality,” is a word that is out of favor and rarely seen these days. That’s because if you’re responsible for your own mishap, there is nobody to sue. The truth is, we are individually responsible for practically everything that happens to us. Not always, but most of the time that is true, especially in America, where there is still some liberty.

Just because a traffic light turns green on our side doesn’t mean we shouldn’t visually check to see if someone is about the run the light before we proceed. Having the right of way might be of some comfort in court, but not in the hospital or the cemetery. If we’re going to drive a vehicle, we need to know how to drive it when a tire blows or when there is snow or ice on the road. I’m convinced many of the people who sued tire companies caused the accident themselves because they didn’t know how to react to a tire blowing out.

(You grip the steering wheel tightly, keep the vehicle straight, take your foot off the gas and stay off the brake; when the car slows enough from the engine drag, you ease it over to the side of the road.)

Growing up as I did before the sexual revolution and the flood of lawsuits, I got a lot of advice from my father. The advice about sex was simple. Get a girl pregnant and you marry her, no ifs, ands or buts about it. For a young man not desiring to settle down, that certainly cooled my ardor.

The rest was all practical stuff. How to duck your head if you fall so you won’t break your neck. How to lift heavy objects with your legs instead of your back. Why you should never wear jewelry or loose clothing when working around moving machinery. How to avoid being kicked by mules or horses. How to drive safely. How to handle a gun, a knife and other tools safely. And, yes, how to fight. Such advice was common then, but I wonder if it is today, with laws mandating helmets and such stuff. A helmet can protect your skull, but it won’t keep you from breaking your neck. I was taught two cardinal rules: In driving, avoid the head-on collision at all costs, and in falling, avoid falling on your head, no matter what you have to do.

Any good martial artist or gymnastics instructor can teach your children how to fall properly and safely. If they learn that skill, they will have a better chance of staying out of a wheelchair, provided they are not stupid enough to dive into water the depth of which they do not know.

We are all responsible for ourselves, our family, our community and our nation. We need to shuck this “It ain’t my fault” syndrome and start taking care of business.

April 10, 2006

© 2006 by King Features Syndicate, Inc. Charley Reese Archives

My own work defines responsibility as “owning your power and ability to create, choose, and attract.” Thus responsibility can be a burden or it can be power and freedom. It’s up to you. That’s what Charlie Reese was swaying here, and in so many of his columns—that taking responsibility and avoiding responsibility are two sides of a choice, your choice and mine. Read more here.

If the tax code is unfair, it’s because they want it unfair. If the budget is in the red, it’s because they want it in the red. If the Marines are in Lebanon, it’s because they want them in Lebanon.

by Charley Reese (probably written between 1971 and 2006)
(underscores added for emphasis)

Charley Reese doesn’t pull punches. Mr. Reese wrote for the Orlando Sentinel Star newspaper between 1971 and 2006 when he retired and began his syndicated column which ran until August 2008.

When I read this column (included below) sent in by a fan of Responsibility Redefined, I was struck by Mr. Reese’s repeated “they want it” quoted and underscored above. I teach clients all the time that what we get today is related to what we created, chose, or attracted yesterday. In other words, we really do get what we want, whether we believe it or not. And now there is ample evidence about how responsibility works in the mind to support this point of view.

I don’t mean to politicize this blog or the Responsibility Redefined message. So regardless of your political persuasion, please read and enjoy Charlie Reese’s essay. While it is making the rounds now right now, it was probably written in the 1980′s due to the reference about Marines in Lebanon. I was surprised this morning that I could not find an exact publication date. Perhaps you can pin it down. If you do, please let me know.

THE 545 PEOPLE

RESPONSIBLE FOR ALL

OF AMERICA’S WOES

By Charley Reese

Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them.

Have you ever wondered why, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, we have deficits? Have you ever wondered why, if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, we have inflation and high taxes?

You and I don’t propose a federal budget. The president does. You and I don’t have the Constitutional authority to vote on appropriations. The House of Representatives does. You and I don’t write the tax code. Congress does. You and I don’t set fiscal policy. Congress does. You and I don’t control monetary policy. The Federal Reserve Bank does.

One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one president and nine Supreme Court justices – 545 human beings out of the 235 million – are directly, legally, morally and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country.

I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board because that problem was created by the Congress. In 1913, Congress delegated its Constitutional duty to provide a sound currency to a federally chartered but private central bank.

I excluded all but the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason. They have no legal authority. They have no ability to coerce a senator, a congressman or a president to do one cotton-picking thing. I don’t care if they offer a politician $1 million dollars in cash. The politician has the power to accept or reject it.

No matter what the lobbyist promises, it is the legislation’s responsibility to determine how he votes.

A CONFIDENCE CONSPIRACY

Don’t you see how the con game that is played on the people by the politicians? Those 545 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you that what they did is not their fault. They cooperate in this common con regardless of party.

What separates a politician from a normal human being is an excessive amount of gall. No normal human being would have the gall of Tip O’Neill, who stood up and criticized Ronald Reagan for creating deficits.

The president can only propose a budget. He cannot force the Congress to accept it. The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, gives sole responsibility to the House of Representatives for originating appropriations and taxes.

O’Neill is the speaker of the House. He is the leader of the majority party. He and his fellow Democrats, not the president, can approve any budget they want. If the president vetos it, they can pass it over his veto.

REPLACE SCOUNDRELS

It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 235 million cannot replace 545 people who stand convicted — by present facts – of incompetence and irresponsibility.

I can’t think of a single domestic problem, from an unfair tax code to defense overruns, that is not traceable directly to those 545 people.

When you fully grasp the plain truth that 545 people exercise power of the federal government, then it must follow that what exists is what they want to exist.

If the tax code is unfair, it’s because they want it unfair. If the budget is in the red, it’s because they want it in the red. If the Marines are in Lebanon, it’s because they want them in Lebanon.

There are no insoluble government problems. Do not let these 545 people shift the blame to bureaucrats, whom they hire and whose jobs they can abolish; to lobbyists, whose gifts and advice they can reject; to regulators, to whom they give the power to regulate and from whom they can take it.

Above all, do not let them con you into the belief that there exist disembodied mystical forces like “the economy,” “inflation” or “politics” that prevent them from doing what they take an oath to do.

Those 545 people and they alone are responsible. They and they alone have the power. They and they alone should be held accountable by the people who are their bosses – provided they have the gumption to manage their own employees.

This article was taken from the Orlando Sentinel Star newspaper

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