Civic and Moral Virtues

From one point of view, this could be called an age of morality. Moral outrage is exhibited in congressional hearings, in the appointment of special prosecutors, and in the indictment of corporate and public officials. The resulting public spectacles and castigation of these offenses have, however, a certain hollow ring. Some detect beneath the sideshow moralizing, a deep disquietude and uncertainty about moral values that accompany the demise of a culture. The consensus that underlies the laws we live by seems to be crumbling, and if that goes, the moral and social values based on it will not long survive. In troubled times, we need to look to the wellspring of the civic order to determine its sources in human nature and in an inherited wisdom built upon centuries of accurate observation.