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Politics : Sharks in the Septic Tank -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: epicure who wrote (66122)	11/7/2002 7:58:56 AM
From: one_less	Respond to of 82486

"How exactly do you intend to impose personal accountability?" Of course you can not. You can encourage it and you can guide it through modeling, education, peer pressure etc. "If people wish to impose other levels of accountability on themselves, who cares? But the state should not be in the business of doing it, imo." The state now imposes laws and as in the example Joe pointed out there are social impositions such as prescription drugs. This type of accountability is entirely external. There are two kinds of control over the behavior of individuals. One operates via internal locus of control, the other operates on external locus of control. As a teacher you should know that there are students who seem to thrive in school through a natural hunger for knowledge and growth (ILC)others do the work that is graded, no more no less (ELC). Either of these may be seen as A students or from time to time failing. In adult life we have the same thing. People who adhere to state laws or at least adhere to them to the extent that they are prosecutable (ELC) and people who adhere to a set of standards based on principles that have been internalized. Ideally the state laws are established along the lines ILCs see as common decent principles, and the ELCs see as necessary to control peace and safety. So there is general agreement on that note. "If people wish to impose other levels of accountability on themselves, who cares? But the state should not be in the business of doing it, imo. I agree with this to a point. There is general agreement in motivational research that when you impose an external control over something that has natural drive then the natural drive disappears. If we impose laws about chemical use then the natural drive to self discipline and responsible use is replaced by adherence to state guidelines (an arguement on your side). Personally I see this as the biggest reason for the failure of the "war on drugs." What is missing is encouragement to be a responsible human being, to be accountable for your behavior, to behave in a decent and considerate manner toward your fellow human beings. The ELCs fail miserably when there are not sufficient external laws and enforcement measures to ensure that their behavior remains within the bounds of human decency. The ILCs don't. ",...who cares? ELCs don't. ILCs don't need laws to live decently but recognize and care that the ELCs need the structure and will not make it unless there is a law imposed on them. Fortunately the ELCs recognize that need as well.