Personal Responsibility

What does "personal responsibility" mean?

"Conservatives" seem to believe that this value is theirs. Their contention seems to be that if people only took "personal responsibility" for their lives, then everything would be fine.

"Conservatives" seem to think that if people took "personal responsibility" for their problems, then no one would ever think of himself or declare herself a "victim". And what is meant by "victim" is someone to whom something happens or is done that is beyond their control; that the circumstance in which they find themselves is not of their own doing. They would like them to admit that anything that happens to them is their fault and therefore their problem. That no help shold be asked for and all help should be refused. Basically, "conservatives" would like people who feel they have been victimized to just shut up and go away.