A reader who posted a comment on the Freeman’s Web site this morning, responding to our election endorsement of Democratic U.S. Rep. Maurice Hinchey, asserted the nation’s current financial crisis is the fault of Democratic Presidents Bill Clinton and – get this – Jimmy Carter, who left office nearly 28 years ago.

Never mind that Carter was followed by 12 years of Republican presidents and Clinton was followed in the White House by the current eight years of Republican George W. Bush. Because the reader doesn’t like Democrats (his posting also takes a swipe at Barack Obama), he simply blames the Democrats for everything that currently ails us.

It’s easy to react to every problem that faces the nation with a knee-jerk partisan response, but such a response is rarely accurate and doesn’t show much depth of thought.

The reality is that members of each major political party have been in control in both the White House and Congress over the last 20 to 30 years, and they all bear some responsibility for what’s happening to us right now.

Blaming only Clinton and Carter for the financial crisis is as short-sighted as blaming only George W. Bush for the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

There’s plenty of blame to go around. How about we share it?