Jason Thomas: All care and no responsibility

Jason Thomas, Director of Sinclair Thomas PTY Ltd in Australia, flies the flag for the principle of personal responsibility.

Remember the time when we all took responsibility for our actions?

Think back to when you were kids.  What did your Mum tell you when you were about to do something that could have dangerous or negative consequences?  My mum told me to take responsibility.  I knew the meaning of cause and effect.  And knowing that, I had more freedom to choose.

It was a time when rights where those irrefutable foundation stones upon which two great wars were fought to defend.  Rights to things that are incontrovertible or what Kant called a priori – such as the right to life, right to a fair trial etc, 

It was a time when we understood personal responsibility. Now where one had a responsibility one now has a right.  And the fall back is to blame it on the system.  As people have become less responsible we have more rights than ever before. More often than not these rights are for things that someone else has to provide.