A Very Nearly Tea

At the root of liberty is responsibility. For our lives, and for the wrongs we see in our vicinity.

Luke Houghton takes a look at this basic necessity for liberty in his entry, Does it Pay to do the right thing?

Perhaps going overboard in worrying about other people are some spectators of politics. Jon Swift takes his usual wit and humor to the Senator Craig incident.

I usually try to stay neutral on entries to carnivals I host, but once in awhile, I cannot. In Privates, Publics and Politics, TrustedAdvisor argues for a new ethic regarding personal and public responsibility. I think there is a mischaracterization of the conservative and libertarian in the argument. We do not shy away from governmental programs because we think that those people who benefit from these services should "get a life" and take responsibility for themselves. It is that we believe that we should be responsible for ourselves, and those in our communities. Governmental involvement necessarily decreases personal liberty on multiple levels.

The problem is that our federal government does not have constitutional authority in these matters. Our society cannot survive unless we each take personal responsibility and corporate responsibility for our welfare. Governmental involvement is a separate issue.

And Mad Kane offers us another limerick, this time about Tony Snow.

There are a number of "good things" that we generally believe everyone should have access to. Education is one of them. But who is responsible for our education?

Life Nurturing Education takes a well thought out look in her entry, Who is Responsible for Education?

Consent of the Governed takes a look at a student loan forgiveness program.

And Corn and Oil looks at a situation in which the state has overstepped its authority, requesting registration of homeschools . She asks another interesting, and almost frightening question. Where is the protest? Without it, liberties are quickly eroded.

Health care is another one.

JasonPye.com offers some interesting statistics in the nationalized health care debate, using Georgia as an example.

National defense is an interesting topic of its own in discussing liberty. For some reason, this carnival only attracts submissions from one side of the discussion. I have never really talked about the war on this blog, and am not even sure where my readers stand with regards to this issue. If you feel so inclined, please let me know. I promise I'll be nice no matter what you believe. When should we go to war? What constitutes a just war? When is our national security at risk? Does the current conflict satisfy any of those tests?

Fear and Loathing offers a photo essay to describe what he thinks of the War in the Middle East.

The Agonist takes on the military on a different argument regarding our security and our future with regards to budget issues in The Third Rail War.

On a related note, fiscal responsibility both in our private affairs and those of government are important for liberty.

Phil for Humanity takes a look at why we refuse to be fiscally responsible at a national level.

Thank you for visiting this edition of the Carnival of Principled Government. More information about the goals of the carnival may be found here. Entries may be submitted here. And if you would be interested in hosting, please email me!