Liberty means responsibility. That is why men dread it.
– George Bernard Shaw (Man and Superman, 1903), Irish playwright
A natural-born leader takes responsibility, and in the process makes decisions for the felt necessities of life in personal, professional, private and in public life disciplines. Although shunned by elected leaders today as an inherent trait, it is rarely developed and honed as a claim, and a right.
Jean-Paul Sartre explained in “Existentialism and Human Emotions” that man is nothing else but what he makes of himself. The Kennedys in America come from the privileged class, but they made the best of themselves in law, politics and government for a short spell of history poignantly called the American Camelot.
John F. Kennedy, in a 1961 news conference observed that “victory has a hundred fathers and defeat is an orphan.” This helped him recover mentally and intellectually after the Bay of Pigs fiasco. He never shirked responsibility, say historians remembering his heroic endeavours in the PT-109 WW2 incident.
Winston Churchill viewed responsibility equating it with greatness. M K “Mahatma” Gandhi, loathed by Churchill as the “naked fakir”, was not affected by the call of greatness. He believed that it is wrong and immoral to seek to escape the consequences of one’s acts. Unfortunately, an assassin subscribed to his strongly held beliefs.
World leaders today must heed the American author Ayn Rand’s remarks that “men who reject responsibility of thought and reason can only exist as parasites on the thinking of others” (“The Virtue of Selfishness: A New Concept of Egoism”). Many shameless leaders today give tacit expression to her astute and acute observation.
Leaders are unable to cope with the incessant flash floods, labour shortages, inflation and the shrinking economy struggling with the weakening ringgit causing a media frenzy. But, sadly, nothing gets done even when a Special Fact-Finding Commission is established.
The enactment of the Taking Responsibility Act 2022 with punitive measures may have some incidental and consequential solutions?
American leaders grapple with responsibility unable to cope with their Seconnd Amendment rights as gun violence assumes uglier shapes and consequences in educational institutions despite the Gun Free Schools Zone Act. The horrors of gun violence in Sandy Hook, Virginia Tech and Columbine do not seem to quell or abate the wanton violence with a strong gun lobby insisting on constitutional rights and guarantees and dampening gun control legislation and policies.
Russian leaders innovated a new twist to take responsibility by invading their neighbours. World leaders pay lip service to Russia’s overtures while lax economic sanctions allow Russia to rake in billions in revenue with their exports. Gas prices and other commodities are reportedly skyrocketing, but nobody is screaming for another war to put Russia in a chokehold.
Ultimately, the fault is borne by voters staying inactive during the beginning of a new regime that celebrates responsibility by shirking it wholesale. People power becomes impotent. When people quit taking responsibility the minority will take control, take charge and rule with impunity. “Let them eat cake” is the mantra for this minority while wallowing in insensitivity accompanied by incomprehension of the realities of life for the unfortunate.
People power taking responsibility should raise the ante if elected parliamentarians and state assemblypersons are willing to take up cudgels on behalf of their constituents. But once these elected officials assume office the main focus shifts to individual zealous responsibility in taking positive steps to stay in power while eyeballing greener pastures in the matrix of power plays.
Celebrating negative responsibility yields nepotism and corruption with unbridled enthusiasm. Every quarter of society laments. No leader offers practical solutions and remedies. Sri Lanka, in dire straits politically and economically, must inspire global leaders to swiftly realise that political and economic karma is a self-inflicted wound.
All major religions mention the taking of responsibility as a requirement for moral mankind. The litigant taking an oath in a court of law is surely invoking the Creator’s wrath if he or she intends not to take full responsibility for the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. The judge looks on with intense passivity.
Productivity and prosperity are the natural consequences when governments take strict responsibility for their politics and policies. What better solace and satisfaction than to be able to share and distribute the wealth of the nation to the people instead of the people in power.
Abraham Lincoln captured the essence – “you cannot escape responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today”.
The views expressed here are those of the columnist and do not necessarily represent the views of New Sarawak Tribune.
