What has happened to the work ethic and sense of responsibility in the USA?

Question

30 years ago Americans worked hard and never expected the government to take care of them. Where did that do? Why do Americans expect the government to take care of all of their needs?

Answer 1

Big John ... You're a genius for asking this question. I've been wanting to know the same thing myself.

Sometimes I ask, "What ever happened to John Kennedy's '... ask what you can do for your country.' ?"

I won't say whether one political party is more at fault than the other, but this change didn't happen overnight. Let's look at a few possible causes.

You've got a baby and no husband? Okay, here's some money.
Oh, you've got five babies and no husband? Well, here's MORE money ... and if you'll have five MORE babies, not only will we give you even MORE money, but we'll throw in a new house, too!

President Nixon made some mistakes, but I think his GRANDEST mistake was discontinuing the draft. Yes, we needed fewer soldiers after our withdrawal from Vietnam, but now most young people think it's the government's job to defend the country. And who is the government? Well, it's US, of course, but they don't know that and they don't care cause they're too darn busy messin' around with their PlayStation 3, I guess.

How about that President Clinton? He didn't help either. First he felt it was necessary to tell us what kind of underwear he uses, all to seem cool in front of an MTV audience. The things that he did to erode personal responsibility standards are too numerous to mention. You may not agree, but there are many things he did that have been well-documented throughout his administration and beyond.

How about the many give-aways arranged by the Congress over recent decades? Both sides of the aisle are guilty of that, but I tend to feel that one party is more guilty than the other. But I don't think it's necessary to name the party ... I'll just blame the Congress in general because getting re-elected is more important to most legislators than doing the right thing.

Am I getting warm yet, John? I think this is a good start. I enjoyed trying to answer your excellent and well-written question, sir. Thank you.

Answer 2

I believe thar Americans are the hardest working people on the planet. We put in twice the time at work that they Europeans do. I think that is has gotten much better over the last thirty years. I believe that the 70's were the biggest period of people exploiting the leftist lead socialist programs available.

Even before then I had a set of relatives that were experts at conning the system.

There will always be lazy moochers but I believe the system as a whole is still intact.

Answer 3

30 years ago, many company has pension plans. Layoff and job hoping was not all the common. People works in a same company for decades before they change environment.

Living standards was much cheaper. You can own a house and have wife stay home with a medium income.

Now, the world has changed, companies do not care about workers so much. The executives cares about their bonus and golden parachutes more than the livelihood of the workers. Works are outsourced and your employment is not guaranteed.
With that kind of environment, workers are disheartened and has lack of the moral. That will certainly drag down the overall work ethnics and sense of responsibilities in many jobs.

With the standard of living much higher, many low and middle class workers faces the crisis of finding stable jobs and sustain themselves. Many will began to rely on subsidies from government.

Anyhow, I do not agree with your last statement of people expecting government to take care of their needs. Most people realized that US government is in very bad shape. We are trillions in debts. Anyone expecting a safety net from government is doomed.

Answer 4

There is no such thing as Work Ethics. There are only Ethics, and you either have them or you don't. This all starts with the upraising of our children. If a kid does not learn that is wrong to steal as a kid, then he will steal when he grow up. He will steal in a store and at work. There is no difference and for that reason, Ethics is all encompassing and not limited to work.

Answer 5

Well looks like we have another genius wanna be on here. If you had practiced these same ethics and sense of responsibility that you are taking about for the past 30yrs, you would not be on here accusing the rest of us. Get a job, take responsibility of your own life, get off welfare and be a true US citizen like the rest of us. We have work ethic and know what responsibility is, you need to follow in our path.

Answer 6

it is not only in the states i live in canada and we have a lousy work ethic also. ive been through at least 6 of them last year they dont want to work, but they sure do want the money. They seem to want the big bucks with no experience at all and are not willing to learn.our society has created the problem by letting people sit on welfare when they are quite capable of working. our society is just as screwed up as yours when it comes to lazy asses that wont get off of their *** to provide for themselves. its called grow up take responsibility for our own. but on the other hand if one can only get a job that pays minimun wage that will not support ones self might as sit on welfare and make some money on the side why not the government pays for my medical dental and gives me some money to provide for my family. not a life for me but alot of people have that attitude. oh right and the more kids i have the more money i get out of the government, and on top of that they pay for some day care and lunch programs. What the bleep bleep is that. people that have kids should be responsible for them. Why is my tax dollars going to raise other peoples kids. School taxes why do i have to pay for them i dont even have kids that are in school. I live in british colombia and we are taxed on top of tax and one big contributor to that is the free loaders here so see you arnt the only ones. one pissed off canadian

Answer 7

Blame it on general complacency and sense of entitlement. Americans have developed this sense of "I'm owed something", so much so, that some people will go to any lengths to get something for free, or somebody else to take care of them. If not, they can abuse the legal system by filing for a lawsuit. It has become a culture of "If everybody else cheats the system, why shouldn't I?"

Answer 8

I believe it starts from home by parents not making their child's education a priority. Too many parents overwhelmed with their careers or job, or two jobs which have become a normality in our society today. By doing so every one of our children who are labeled key-latch children usually have low grades in all subjects except sports.

In addition to the public school nation wide testing of kids in the US failing across the board rapidly. Teachers in some states now have legislation to re-test teachers every so many years to see if the teachers are qualified to teach.

Not to mention the irresponsible parents who are drug addicts, alcoholics, and welfare recipients for their entire life. These attitudes also influences a child to do the same and become lazy and irresponsible themselves.

Answer 9

I don"t know if you are talking about yourself or someone you know the American people I know are very hard working people trying to support there families. If the American people have a problem with the work force it is because they are not by linguel

Answer 10

I don't expect them to help me, nor do I want them to. America's Social Welfare system has destroyed the sense of individual achievement. Why should anyone work 40+ hours a week when they can get free food, clothing, & shelter?

It's very sad.