So Daisy Cutter wrote up an interesting post trying to define the difference between "leftists" and "conservatives". It actually prompted a fair amount of thought on this end of the reader/writer relationship, and I responded with the following comment:

As a caveat to your remarkably well-written explanation of the differences between leftists and conservatives, I offer this:

Another massive difference lies in the realm of personal accountability/responsibility. While the main tenets of leftism seem to revolve around the importance of the individual over everything else, it also (somewhat hypocritically) removes any and all semblance of accountability and responsibility from that individual for his or her actions. Whatever the individual does is always someone else's fault.

Conservatives, on the other hand, tend to take ownership of their actions, and thus accept the repercussions, positive or negative.

Again, as you say, these are remarkably blanket-ish statements, but they seem to hold relatively true.

However, now that I have the time to actually sit down and think about what I was writing, I figured I would go into a little more depth. As with the last time, we will use Dictionary.com to establish a few ground definitions. First, responsibility: "The state, quality, or fact of being responsible." Thus, we must move on to the second definition, responsible: "Liable to be required to give account, as of one's actions or of the discharge of a duty or trust," but also, "Able to make moral or rational decisions on one's own and therefore answerable for one's behavior," as well as, "Able to be trusted or depended upon; reliable," and, "Based on or characterized by good judgment or sound thinking." Big definition, that. Third, accountable: "Liable to being called to account; answerable," also, "Liable."

Now, from simply looking at the wrote definitions and drawing assumptions, it would appear that the words "accountable" and "responsible" are effectively synonymous - one and the same. However, the reality of the situation is that this is far from being the case. Responsibility arises from duties or expectations that you or other people endow upon you, through relationships, jobs, or agreement. However, with that responsibility, regardless of the source, one is placed in a position to be accountable for one's actions. One's own initiative, actions, and decisions all weigh in on how one is held accountable for the end results of those deeds. Accountability requires conscious, cognizant, and informed decisions and actions, and cannot be delegated. Responsibility, however, can be thrust upon you by other people, or yourself, and simply arises from the surrounding situations.

Now, that those ground definitions are established, it becomes clear that I somewhat misused the words in my comment, and for that I apologize. But the main point of the comment still stands.

Our society has not only confused the meanings of those two words, but almost lost them from our vocabulary entirely. People are no longer being held liable (accountable) for their words or actions, and are finding any and all means possible of shoving off responsibilty onto someone else - "He had a rough childhood."... "His father abused him."... "The woman was asking for it."... "He pissed me off so I..."... In the grand scheme of things, none of that matters. A person's actions are their own. In every situation, the world and life around, they always have a choice. They can choose to do something legal, or choose to do something not; choose to steal that loaf of bread, or chose to not. Granted, every choice, regardless of the legality or "rightness" of it will always have repercussions - not stealing that bread could mean the man goes hungry for a while. But there is always a choice.

Our society has forgotten that. We have started buying into the age-old excuse of "The Devil made me do it." (Not that any self-respecting liberal would actually say the word "Devil" since that would allow for the existance of "God" as well...) Our society has become too fixated on how something makes someone feel, or whether their self-image has been damaged in the proces, or all kinds of touchy-feely crap. This tread towards "It's everyone else's fault" has simply got to stop... It is time for people to start taking ownership of their actions and the consequences involved, and stop trying to shirk their responsibilities, as well as their inherent, inalienable accountability. It is time for individuals to be a gorram (wo)man, but put it simply.