Occupy protesters play blame game

I doubt it will fit on their T-shirts.

But I’d like to suggest a different slogan for Occupy Wall Street demonstrators: “Embrace personal responsibility.”

Thousands of arrests were made in cities across America this week as the Occupy movement entered its third month. The movement is a response in part to corporate greed, rising unemployment and a socioeconomic crevasse separating the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans and the remaining 99 percent.

Protestors have shut down shipping in Oakland, Calif., blocked bridges in New York and, in cities in between, squatted for weeks in publicity hungry encampments. In Spokane, protests have been peaceable, but elsewhere injuries to demonstrators and police alike are reported.

Like most medicines aimed at complex ailments, side effects from this movement’s proposed cures seem worse than our illness. Occupy’s website suggests America needs to tax the wealthiest by as much as 90 percent, ban private land ownership and extend an “immediate debt forgiveness” benefit to everyone.

To be fair, Occupy does not make an official demand statement; it has simply allowed an anonymously written list to be accessible on its “unofficial” site for the last three weeks.

In interviews throughout the country, protesters have cried for a redistribution of wealth that is more equitable. In other words, they want the government to legally take money from rich people and give it to people who, by their measure, are less fortunate.

This is also called stealing. It’s wrong. And it reveals the moth that has been eating away at America’s moral fabric: We are increasingly a people who refuse to take personal responsibility.

We are rapidly becoming a society in which we want someone or something else to be blamed for our problems. We want someone else to bail us out of our predicaments.

Yes, it’s terrible that millions in this economy are upside down in mortgages; but no one was forced to sign loan papers.

Yes, it’s regrettable that so many college graduates cannot find work; but a global recession, and a person’s choice to major in an unmarketable vocation,is not always somebody else’s fault.

Yes, some of America’s wealthiest cheat us and ignore their moral obligation to help others – but many, many more do not. Stealing from the rich and giving it to others is immoral; it does nothing to temper greed.

Don’t misunderstand me: It’s imperative that we fix systemic problems and help those who are truly unable to meet their needs.

In fact, Christians throughout the centuries have rightly led the way in ministering to the poor, the sick and disenfranchised. Grace and compassion are the fragrance of Christianity.

Look to groups like the Union Gospel Mission, Samaritan’s Purse and Catholic Charities to see compassion expressed, not just spoken.

But the elephant in the room is easily spotted: Ever since Adam blamed Eve for his sin, human beings have dodged personal responsibility.

It’s not surprising to see this in the culture; it is a primal expression of sinfulness. But you know, this blame game ought not to be true among those who profess to be Christians.

God calls us to personal responsibility; in fact, personal responsibility is a normal result of faith in God.

Like I said, my proposed new slogan for the Occupy movement probably won’t fit on its T-shirts.

That’s OK. Because there is one thing worth praising about this movement’s volume and staying power: In America, one still has the right to be wrong.