The virtue of honesty is an aspect of rationality and means the refusal to deceive ourselves or others. Honesty involves taking responsibility for our role in any situation instead of avoiding or shifting it. Being responsible for our lives necessarily also requires perseverance and persistence. If, after choosing a goal, we soon give up on it, we will fail ourselves, as well as show our unreliability to others. If these and other virtuous qualities of character disappear from a society, liberty will also decline.
Irresponsible people cease to value liberty and the challenges it presents.
Liberty requires a widespread acceptance of personal responsibility. The converse is also true. Without the liberty to choose our own actions and make our own choices, we lose the qualities of responsibility and virtue that make us uniquely human. Our nature allows and requires us to make conscious choices rather than programming us for automatic responses. As a result, persons form differing purposes and goals.