"That crowd resists the idea of certain classes of people acting with any volition, as if all their actions are somehow caused by outside factors." Do you have any examples of this? Because of all the progressive minded people I've ever known, read, or heard, I've never heard one person ever say anything remotely like this.

The structure of society defines the range of available personal choices. It is not true that there is always a good choice available to everyone. It is also not true that one bad decision should doom a person forever. Racism, sexism, and class are not figments of our imagination. They do constrain the available ranges of choices for people every day. Invoking the personal responsibility fairy does not change that reality. Invoking the personal responsibility fairy does not alleviate us from the moral questions and the practical consequences to society of making a person and all connected to them forever pay the price for one bad decision, which is what ignoring societal consequences and responsibility does.

It isn't disempowering people to acknowledge the reality that things outside of people's control very often affect their lives. It certainly isn't empowering them to ignore them. Using the fig leaf of personal responsibility to deny everyone opportunity because a few might abuse that opportunity is neither morally acceptable or practically efficient. We are much better as a people by trying to help everyone because in the real world, the number of people who abuse that help are far outweighed by the number of people who take advantage of it and the benefits that those people provide society. Even people who sometimes take second, or third, or fourth chances, are still worth the effort because when they do finally take full advantage of the opportunity, the payoff for society is great. The welfare queen is a figment of Republican imagination, and I have generally found it bad to make policy decisions on the basis of what Republicans imagine.

You want to know how you can tell who is serious about poverty and personal responsibility? It is the side that attempts to remove the distortions of societal responsibility. It is progressives that fight for day care so that people can go to work and know their children are safe. It is progressives that fight for universal access to education, so that people have an opportunity to do everything their intellect can allow them to do. It is progressives that fight for universal health care so that no one has to choose between their child's health and a shitty job. It is progressives who fight for a safety net so that the person who lost a job through no fault of their own isn't financially destroyed before they can find a new one. Those people aren't sitting back and whining about personal responsibilty.

I'm not going to take the middle position on providing safety nets when society is nowhere near the middle to begin with in providing them. Unless and until conservatives are willing to do exactly those things I mentioned above, unless and until conservatives are willing to absolutely level the playing field, then blathering on about personal responsibility is nothing more than a disingenuous dodge. Because when some people have advantages and privilege that others do not, then the matter of personal responsibility doesn't really enter into the equations when discussing what programs to cut. When we live in a society where a man like George W. Bush, who has failed at everything he has ever done, can become President, but a single mother in the Army Reserves can lose her home because she was called away for 18 months and then lost her job, this fetish for personal responsibility is nothing more than the defense of George W Bush and a direct attack on that single mother.