I just read an excellent article on personal responsibility (foreign concept, I know) by Thomas Sowell. You can read it here. Okay, for some Blogger reason the link won't show up so just copy and paste this: http://jewishworldreview.com/cols/sowell082509.php3

Here are a couple of quotes to whet your appetite:

"Americans can have the best medical care in the world without having the best health or longevity because so many people choose to live in ways that shorten their lives."

"...most discussions of what is wrong [with public education] leave out the fact that many such students may have chosen to use school as a place to fool around, act up, organize gangs or even peddle drugs."