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NEW YORK (CNN) -- What do these stories all have in common?
- A woman who says she lost more $1 million gambling in Atlantic City sues some casinos for $20 million, claiming they should've stopped her compulsive gambling.
- People who bought houses they couldn't afford with loans they didn't understand want their lenders to change the terms.
- Congress authorizes a war and then tries everything it can think of to get out of it.
- Our country gets addicted to oil and then blames OPEC when it doesn't like the price.
These stories prove how personal responsibility has all but vanished in America, and our government is leading the way.
Remember the kid from that interminable 1980s commercial whose father caught him using drugs? The father incredulously asked, "Who taught you how to do this stuff?" and the kid responded, "You, alright? I learned it by watching you."
Well, we are that kid and our government is that drug-using father who doesn't think that anyone notices his bad habits.
Our government is leading us by example, and I don't mean that in a good way. For years, it has spent us into oblivion, mortgaging our future for programs we can't afford, and Americans have happily followed suit, running up credit card bills and home equity loans for things they never should've bought.
Unfortunately, we're also learning something else from our government: how to avoid taking responsibility for our actions.
From Eliot Spitzer's alleged hooker craze to the revelation that Arnold Schwarzenegger commutes to work in a large private jet even as he preaches the dangers of carbon dioxide emissions, there's never been a shortage of "do what I say, not what I do" hypocrites in politics.
But that same attitude has seemingly spread from individual politicians to an entire party.
Democrats aren't happy that delegates from Florida and Michigan won't be seated at the national convention because those states broke clear party rules. Well you know what? Too bad. We don't say that enough anymore. Too bad. You agreed to the rules; you broke them. Now you've got to deal with the consequences.
"But Glenn. ... Neither Hillary
Clinton nor Barack Obama will have enough delegates to win the
nomination. We don't want this to be decided in some backroom by
superdelegates."
Too bad.
"But Glenn. ... You don't understand. If we don't seat delegates from those states now, then we might lose their votes in the general election."
Too bad.
"But Glenn. .... The voters in these states are going to be disenfranchised if we don't let their voices be heard."
Too bad.
If you want to talk about disenfranchised voters, then let's talk about why just 17 percent of Americans have a positive view of Congress. Let's talk about why we still have wide open borders despite most Americans wanting them sealed. Let's talk about why we keep selling out our sovereignty and our security by borrowing billions of dollars from-less-than friendly countries, such as China.
Americans aren't disenfranchised because our leaders won't count votes in a couple of states. They're disenfranchised because our leaders aren't doing their jobs. They're disenfranchised because after working hard to support their families and to raise kids who understand the difference between right and wrong, their leaders do exactly the opposite.
In the cases of Florida and Michigan, I've patiently listened to all the moving arguments about why there should be a "do-over," but quite honestly, they're not arguments at all. They're excuses. If this race wasn't so close, or if these states offered a combined 36 delegates instead of 366, do you really think anyone would care? Of course not.
But no matter what you think should happen, you have to admit that Clinton's idea that we should simply count her "wins" in Florida and Michigan is completely ridiculous.
In fact, if you played a rimshot and a laugh track behind her every time she recited that line, people might actually agree to a two-drink minimum to see her speak. How could you possibly count the results from an election when your main opponent wasn't even on the ballot (at least in Michigan)? You can't -- unless you think the rules are simply there for your own amusement.
Last year, when the punishment against Florida was first approved, Donna Brazile, a member of the Democratic National Committee rules panel, said she hoped that the harsh consequences would "send a message to everybody in Florida that we are going to follow the rules." And Brazile knows a little something about that ... she ran Vice President Al Gore's presidential campaign in 2000.
Voters in Florida and Michigan should ask themselves one important question before they blindly follow their party: Why did no one seem to care about "alienating" them last year when the rules were intentionally broken? It's only now, when their vote really matters, that everyone is suddenly so concerned about "enfranchising" them.
Florida and Michigan have a golden opportunity to stand up and say enough is enough, to send a message that it's time to not only take responsibility for their actions but for those of our leaders as well.
After all, what would it say about personal responsibility in this country if we allow the two states that broke all the rules to end up having the biggest say of all?
JUST SAY NO!!!
By Will DunhamTue Mar 11, 4:37 PM ET
More than one in four U.S. teen girls is infected with at least one sexually transmitted disease, and the rate is highest among blacks, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Tuesday.
An estimated 3.2 million U.S. girls ages 14 and 19 -- about 26 percent of that age group -- have a sexually transmitted infection such as the human papillomavirus or HPV, chlamydia, genital herpes or trichomoniasis, the CDC said.
Forty-eight percent of black teen-age girls were infected, compared to 20 percent of whites and 20 percent of Mexican American girls. The report did not give data on the broader U.S. Hispanic population.
"What we found is alarming," the CDC's Dr. Sara Forhan, who led the study, told reporters. "This means that far too many young women are at risk for the serious health effects of untreated STDs, including infertility and cervical cancer."
Dr. John Douglas, director of the CDC's Division of STD Prevention, said a complex mix of factors is to blame for the higher rates among black girls, including the overall higher presence of sexually transmitted diseases, or STDs, in the broader black community.
"Therefore, for any given sex act with any given partner, a person who's not infected has a greater risk of coming into contact with infection and getting infected," Douglas said.
The CDC said the rate of STD infection among U.S. teen girls might be higher than the study indicates because it did not look at syphilis, gonorrhea or HIV infection, but said these generally are uncommon in girls this age.
The CDC said the report, released at a meeting in Chicago, was the first to gauge combined rates of common STDs in female adolescents, giving the best data to date.
MULTIPLE INFECTIONS
Among girls who had an STD, 15 percent had more than one. About half reported ever having had sex, and among those girls, 40 percent had at least one STD. Of girls who had just one lifetime sexual partner, 20 percent had at least one STD.
HPV, which can cause genital warts and cervical cancer, was the most common infection, seen in 18 percent of the girls. The CDC said this indicates teen girls, even those with few lifetime sexual partners, are at high risk for HPV infection.
CDC officials urge girls and women ages 11 to 26 who have not been vaccinated against HPV or who have not completed the full series of shots be fully vaccinated against the virus.
The next most common infection was chlamydia, caused by a bacterium that can damage a woman's reproductive organs. It was seen in 4 percent of the girls. Untreated infection can spread into the uterus or fallopian tubes and cause pelvic inflammatory disease. It also raises risk for infertility.
The CDC urges yearly chlamydia screening for sexually active women under age of 25.
Trichomoniasis, caused by a single-celled parasite, was seen in about 3 percent of the girls. Women with trichomoniasis have vaginal itching and discharge.
About 2 percent of girls were infected with herpes simplex virus type 2, which causes most cases of genital herpes.
The findings were based on data from 838 girls who took part in a nationally representative health survey in 2003 and 2004. They were tested for various STDs.
(Editing by Maggie Fox and Philip Barbara)
