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The past few weeks of turmoil in our country have brought about charges that conventional standards of moral and ethical behavior are being cast aside. This concern cannot be denied nor ignored. Things are a mess. But the response of many, pro and con, to these changes is not thoughtful analysis, but platitudes and slogans. No surprise, for human discourse is mostly platitudes and slogans anyway. They really make little difference, although from time to time they can be used for great political effect. But generally, significant cultural movements have deeper sources.

Indeed, much social behavior is shaped and guided not by empty words or even by carefully thought out decisions or rational calculation, but by deep currents of unrecognized premises and presumptions. That is our nature, and as Mark Twain once said, “There is a great deal of human nature in people.”

Those deep currents have been shaped by centuries of philosophical and religious thought. * Back four and five thousand years (likely more, the earliest stirrings or revelations are lost in the mists of time) men began identifying values and principles that would serve to promote a better life. * Long before Jesus, for instance, men began to realize that “me first” did not lead to peace and good health. Sharing did. Strength and power did not always resolve tension. Compromise did.

As cultures and civilizations emerged and faded, gradually, sporadically, these fundamental understandings and practices became ingrained into common life. Sharing became the Golden Rule. Compromise became the astonishing “All Men Are Created Equal. But nothing is permanent. Everything rests on some compelling authority, and as that authority is weakened, as one could argue is now happening, eventually public practice weakens also. All governments are in the end, therefore, houses built on the sand of public opinion.

It may be hard to admit, but our democracy is not guaranteed anything. A demagogue or dictator or despot is not impossible. Look around at our world past and present.

                —J. Streed

*See The Abolition of Man, C.S. Lewis