In his inaugural address, President Obama heralded the arrival of a “new era of responsibility.” Apparently, this was a slip of the tongue, really meaning an “era of irresponsibility.” By his actions, Obama is pushing irresponsibility by picking winners and losers, punishing those who have worked hard and saved, while rewarding those who bought houses they could not afford and made bad business decisions. In other words, President Obama is an enabler.

An enabler is a person who makes it easier for people to continue their bad behavior by rescuing them. He protects other from their responsibilities. “The term codependency,” says Darlene Albury, LMSW, “refers to a relationship where one or both parties enable the other to act in certain maladaptive ways.” They make excuses for the other person’s destructive behavior. The enabler allows the other person’s wrong behavior to continue and to worsen.

Power and the need to be in control go hand-in-hand with the nurturing of dependency. This is what Obama is trying to do with his huge government programs which help those who have been irresponsible.

It’s a fact: people respond to incentives and disincentives. We work because we get paid, or don’t speed because we fear a ticket. People will act either responsibly or irresponsibly depending on the consequences. Obama’s bailout plans remove negative consequences to bad decisions.

Our capitalistic system is based on the concept of risk and rewards. People take risks in making investments and acquiring capital and then are free to reap the rewards and bear the burdens of their choices. In this manner successful businesses -- and individuals -- are rewarded, and they profit and reinvest that profit and grow. Ineffective businesses, which are taking up capital, go out of business or are bought up by the more successful companies, and scarce capital is used most effectively. Now this equation is being thrown off kilter by government intervention. First we had the bank bailouts, and the government choosing to allow Lehman Brothers to go broke while bailing out AIG. This is the era of irresponsibility. Once risk becomes unhinged from failure, and the government will bail out anyone who takes a risk and fails, there is no responsibility. The American system is then fundamentally altered. Continued...