In the wake of the republican’s loss of the presidency as well as both houses of congress, many are scratching their heads wondering what went wrong. Most blame the series of bad decisions made by the Bush administration. Others blame McCain’s pathetic presidential campaign. Still others have more complex causes in mind. All of these arguments have merit, but I propose that these are all merely symptoms of the real problem: an abdication of personal responsibility.

I am an independent voter because I believe that a dogmatic vote is an irresponsible vote. So after long and careful consideration, I bit my tongue and voted straight republican in 2008. I knew that an Obama presidency would usher in many more socialist policies than would a McCain presidency. But the national electorate apparently wasn’t as worried about socialism as I was. They are now.

Obama has been true to his campaign promises. Banks and brokers have been effectively nationalized. Financial losers can now enjoy windfalls thanks to Obama’s redistributionist policies. The country’s financial future is being sacrificed now to provide a modicum of relief to a minimum of people. As hard as the recession is on some, Obama is determined to make it equally hard on everyone. Obama’s policies all come down to one thing: abdication of personal responsibility. He believes nobody should suffer the consequences of their own actions. People are starting to wake up to the horrors of socialist policy, and they are starting to react.

But the problem is that McCain wouldn’t have done much better with the financial crisis. He fought for the first major bail-out of the financial industry, and he campaigned on policies of convoluted healthcare credits and one-time tax credits. The icing on the cake is that his campaign overspent, and now he is asking for a bailout from anyone that initially supported him. Not only did he fail to represent personal responsibility in his campaign, but he continues to abdicate responsibility for himself.

Given the choice between Obama and McCain, I admit I had a difficult time deciding. Had I been given the choice between Hillary and McCain, it would have been even more difficult. In spite of some of the goofy socialist nonsense Hillary has written, I believe she may have governed more towards the center than McCain would have (and certainly more than Obama has).

The solution for republicans is staring them in the face: come back to the ideal of personal responsibility. I’m not saying that there can be no societal safety nets. The safety nets are already in place: bankruptcy, unemployment compensation, churches, community centers, and homeless shelters. If these systems can’t handle the influx, shore them up! Repeal the 2005 bankruptcy act if necessary. Increase unemployment contributions if necessary. But there is a big difference between social safety nets and socialism.

Republicans face a wide spectrum of differences within their party. There is the religious right and there is the agnostic center and everything in between. The republican “base” has been marginalized into irrelevancy. Somehow, the party needs to come together. The issue we all share in common is personal responsibility.

There are very few people in this country that want their money redistributed to the undeserving minority. Few Americans believe that people with no motivation, talent, or skill should rule over those who have earned their lifestyle. No sane person would hand a loaded gun to someone who has sworn to murder anyone who gets in their way. Every American has some sense of personal responsibility; even the socialist left believes in a moral imperative, misguided though they may be.