Responsibility
Probably the most ironic thing about the right wing in America is their reputation - if only amongst themselves and among the shamefully stupid American electorate - for being the "grown ups" at the party. They're the ones you're supposed to trust to run business, to operate heavy machinery, to conduct war, and so on. Really, nothing could be further from the truth, as we see again and again.
The fundamental building block of good character that we know as "responsibility" is, essentially, the call to action based upon the three building blocks upon which it rests: honesty, compassion, and respect. If you are honest and have compassion and respect, you are responsible for acting in a certain manner. If you're honest, for example, about attacking a nation because you believe it is aiming weapons of mass destruction imminently at your own nation and at your allies, but you nevertheless have compassion for that nation's civilian population and your own troops, and if you respect the rule of law and such concepts as justice, then you are responsible, when you find you're mistaken, for apologizing, withdrawing, and working your tail off to repair what damage you can.
We see none of this in the right wing. The Bush administration denies the reality of global warming as long as it possibly can; they refuse to acknowledge mistakes in any area, even the Iraq War, now seen by a majority as the worst policy disaster in American history; they spend irresponsibly, cut taxes irresponsibly, well, basically, they do everything irresponsibly.
How can this be? How can these "grown ups" act like total savages and get away with it? The answer is actually quite easy: selfishness. Responsibility certainly includes one's responsibility to take care of one's own health, one's children, and so forth, but it is a broader concept that most pointedly entails taking actions consistent with honesty, compassion, and respect even when those actions might be at one's own cost. Not only is the right wing extravagantly selfish, they (especially masterminds like Karl Rove and media whores like Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh) are extremely adept at exploiting the selfishness of the American electorate. "Sure, you can accept these tax cuts, drive big SUVs, support an illegal, immoral war, and still be good." It's a siren song the stupid and/or mendacious cannot resist.
The question, of course, is to whom or to what should you be responsible. If you're only "responsible" to corporate greed, well, don't be surprised if the world's disenfranchised can be coaxed into flying planes into buildings or strapping bombs onto themselves and striding into Starbucks. Responsibility, again, is an empty concept in and of itself -- it must rest on a foundation of honesty, compassion, and respect in order to have any meaning.
Next up: Courage.
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