The Bush Burden (tremendous article)

[Half-Century Man]

22. Nothing has hurt our beloved country more than...

...our inability, as a nation, to admit we make mistakes.
The reputation (some use the word "sanctity, giving a bureaucratic function, a religious connotation) of our public office is not upheld if we allow any temporary holder of that office to walk away from the consequences of criminal actions. The vile taint of someone's personal actions becomes the offices permanent corruption if we do not publicly separate the two. With an accompanying punishment for both the criminal act itself and the compounding betrayal of public trust.

If we have legislation which was enacted on false or racist reasons, we need to be able to admit this to ourselves. We did this with the repeal of the prohibition of alcohol.