I think it was the "we tortured some folks" moment

[RiverNoord]

92. Bullshit.

Employees of the government of the United States of America tortured people. Lots of people. And regardless of how we voted (I've damn well voted for Democrats for 27 years and never once for a Republican. Period. 'Anti-Democrats?' - what kind of absurd fantasy is that?), we all share the blame for what our country does. We share it because it is, ostensibly, a representative democracy, and if we are powerless to prevent crimes committed by those who who act on its behalf, then we must act to obtain the power necessary to call them to account for their acts, and prevent such things from happening in the future.

This has nothing to do with political parties, other than the determination of whether they can serve such objectives or not. If we elect a Democrat to the office of the Presidency, and that Democrat decides not to pursue this objective, then either we change our behavior to ensure that such decisions carry a heavy political cost, or we are parties to the decision.

There is nothing our country does that we, as American citizens, are not ultimately accountable for. You let yourself off by claiming that it was not you but those other people who did these things. That gives you an escape route - if you vote against those other people, you obviously can not be responsible for what they did. But it's a fantasy, one that enables you to speak with righteous indignation while you don't do a damn thing.

Don't forget that it was a Democratic president who genuinely started the Vietnam war, a Democratic president who ordered the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and a Democratic president that now is in charge of the most sophisticated assassination infrastructure on the planet. We're not paragons of virtue compared to savage, evil conservative torture-monsters. We are all Americans and this is our country. If we cannot take responsibility for its crimes, how can we, without living in utter denial, claim responsibility for its achievements?