Many of my conservative friends love to carry on about how much of society's problems could be solved if only everyone had "the bootstrap mentality". How if everyone were a rugged, self-reliant individual who took the initiative rather than wait for a handout there would be little or no poverty and things would work much better. To be honest, I agree with them in a sense. The argument that people need to take personal responsibility for their actions and carry their own weight in order to su...