Pat the man on the head....

Pat Buchanan stated that questioning whether something is our responsibility is an unpatriotic action. How is it unpatriotic to assume responsibility for one's actions? Is it different on an individual than a national level? If someone hits me, the first question I ask is "why" - and if the answer is, "You hit me first," I apologize. Should it be any different on the national level? Perhaps an argument might be made that since we are many rather than one, the rules should be different; I can't follow that argument though. As members of this nation, our most patriotic duty is to each act as the conscience of the other, and the guarantor of that other's liberty, in order to ensure our own. It is not to pretend that we did not do what we know very well we did, or present the best face to the world, or be perfectly preachingly innocent. Pride's nothing but a harbinger of downfall.