Personal Responsibility in the Modern USA

I definitely think that if the Federal Government - and States - REALLY wanted people to take personal responsibility for their actions then all laws that hold secondary people / firms responsible would never have been created.  

 

We have changed the liability of personal mistakes away from an individual person and have gone with the popular mental and emotional  reassignment of blame to a nebulous deep pocket company for lapses in person judgment and ability. The "It's not my fault" mode allows a person to feel good about their stupidity through the politically popular laws passed by legislatures which shift responsibility away from the PERSON.

 

This is not the same as true product liability laws - knowingly putting out a product that can cause death or injury. But when they have to put onto a hair dryer "Do not use while soaking in a bathtub" it means that somewhere along the line someone DID use it and since there was no warning label for them NOT to use they sued and WON. 

 

The Darwin Awards exist since there really are going to be stupid people and it is impossible to protect them from their own stupidity. You just cannot teach every person about all the dangers in the world, and some people are just incapable of learning no matter how many millions is spent on them. (A basic 1 to 12 education in Oregon means spending $130,000 per student in constant dollars. "Special education" student quadruples that cost for extra services mandated for them.)

 

Taking a logical example of DUI the state should be always be assigned 80% liability for a person who crashes a car while drunk - the state ISSUED a driver license to a person whom it knew - or should have known - would drive drunk.  The layers have sued the bars who gave a drink to a person - but how would they know that person would drive - yet the state ISSUED a license to a person who lacks judgment so should not the STATE be held liable letting that person drive when under the influence of any drug?