The Tea Party movement has tapped a clear chord in American culture – suspicion of governmental power.  We hear it in Jefferson’s rationale for revolution, the inalienable rights to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness, and in Emerson’s reverence for self-reliance. 

Individualism may prove anachronistic in an age linked by global institutions and common environmental pressures.  But if that is not the case, if individual liberty is to continue to resonate as a powerful theme in American culture, it must be linked to individual responsibility, a topic about which we hear painfully little. 

The party line for all political leaders in this country is that Americans are the greatest people on the planet.  Government, banks, and corporations are all fair game for blame, but the people are sacrosanct.  We need to begin telling ourselves the truth.  We have borrowed too much, use far more than our share of the world’s resources, and lead unhealthy lives.  

Going forward, we will face three massive challenges, an enormous national debt, a continuing rise in health care costs, and a climate crisis.  Setting aside the question of how much government intervention is needed to address these challenges; conservatives and liberals should agree that they will require dramatic changes in personal lifestyle.   

We can reduce health care costs and emissions by exchanging that suburban 4-bedroom home for something smaller and closer in so that we can walk to work.  We can get out of our SUV’s and on our bikes.  We weren’t really doing much exploring in our Explorers or trailblazing in our Trailblazers anyway.  We can stop patronizing the fast-food restaurant and take a walk to the farmers’ market instead or get a little exercise from growing our own gardens.   

And if we think that warnings about climate change are a crock because we read it in an op-ed or the latest bestseller, then let’s do the responsible thing and check what working climate scientists have to say in response.  Before assuming that the scientific community has been conclusively debunked by the latest version of “climate-gate,” let’s spend fifteen minutes doing a little research on realclimate.org.  

Calling for individual liberty without taking individual responsibility is nothing more than the clamoring of a culture that has grown accustomed to getting its way in the world.  Granted, many people have suffered loss of jobs and declining real wages, but I doubt that those are the majority of the folks insisting upon less government interference in their lives.  In a period of crisis, there is no room for easy individualism.