Can a Democracy Survive Moral Decay?

Asking for some friends

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An Analogy

In the laboratory, biologists use Petri dishes to grow and study microorganisms. As we might recall from middle school science class, the dishes contain a gel-like medium on which the organisms feed to create a culture. The medium nourishes not only benevolent bacteria, for example, but also any contaminating microorganisms introduced into the culture. Though the dishes are covered to prevent it, cultures can become contaminated. So the cultures can be observed as they grow, the dishes and covers are translucent,

Now, think of society as a Petri dish and the population of that society as the medium. Instead of microorganisms, the culture growing in the dish is an amalgam of the mores and customs of the society, its laws, its economy, its arts, its religions, etc. Just as a culture in a Petri dish can be used to create medicines, the combination of these varied elements defines the nature of a society. And, just as scientists must keep a close eye on their Petri dishes for signs of contamination, for a society to be capable of self-correction, it must remain alert for the pollution that threatens its health. We are told that "the price of liberty is eternal vigilance,"¹ and we risk the loss of that liberty when we are unwilling to pay that price.

That the collective ‘we' has been less than diligent in our vigilance is apparent in our election of a President who rules by fiat instead of law, a man who is using the office to enrich himself and his cronies. The reality is that the corruption of the Trump Administration is not a solitary example of America’s moral rot. The failure of institutions such as Congress and the media to stand for accountability is equally at fault. It explains the craven behavior of law firms and universities that, by succumbing to the demands of an increasingly authoritarian government, prioritize their financial interests over the principles that are the raison d'être of their existence. And this pervasive moral decay is on full display in the hypocrisy of various religious figures, the supposed standard bearers of America’s moral rectitude.

Morality: Knowing the Difference Between Right and Wrong

Since this is not a philosophical treatise, a normative concept of morality is sufficient to guide us in determining whether our actions are right or wrong. Our ancient forebears, living in groups (families, tribes, or clans), realized certain behaviors were adverse to the peaceful cohesion of the group and were therefore deemed undesirable. Ideas of right and wrong or good and evil- what we term morality- evolved as a central component of civilization. These ideas became institutionalized through human creations such as religion and law. And like the culture in our Petri dish, morality is as susceptible to corruption as are many human beliefs. ²

In a fundamental sense, laws and social norms reflect the moral nature of a society. Ultimately, our concern is how individuals interact with one another. As Mark Twain put it,” Always do right; this will gratify some people and astonish the rest.”³

In an article in The Atlantic, Peter Wehner expounds on the idea that “integrity is a virtue on which good character is built:”

Integrity—whose root word, integer, means wholeness, a thing complete in itself—assimilates other virtues. A person of integrity possesses an inner harmony, a moral coherence.

I’ve been thinking about integrity a lot lately, in part because more and more it’s seen, certainly in politics, as unfashionable. It wasn’t always this way. [For] nearly the entirety of American history, up until a decade ago, Washington set the standard. Presidents had to at least appear to be better than they were, offering the tribute that vice pays to virtue.

No more. Donald Trump’s corruption is borderless, in ways we’ve never quite seen before. But what’s also precedent-shattering is that he doesn’t try to hide it. His depravity is all in the open.

That his supporters celebrate his bad behavior makes this even more discouraging.

“At long last, have we no decency?”

As a baseball fan growing up, I remember learning about the “moral turpitude clause” in players’ contracts that permitted a team to void a player’s contract for “ immoral or unethical behavior”. I’m not certain if there was such a clause in the employment contract of Andy Byron, CEO of a tech company. Last month, Andy was caught passionately kissing Kristin Cabot, the company’s HR director, on a giant-screen “kiss cam” at an arena concert. Andy and Kristin are married- unfortunately, not to each other. This led to rumors of an affair and their dual resignations. I’m old enough to remember the days when people involved in such behavior had the sense to check into a hotel room.

I mention this incident because it is a perfect example of the shamelessness that represents the moral decay infecting our society. It is not that this behavior was in any way novel, but that it occurred in plain sight. In this instance, the couple lost their jobs, but nowadays it seems these behaviors are greeted wth a collective shrug. We have become numb to what, not long ago, would have been considered outrageous. Trump’s “grab ‘em by the pussy” remark in 2016 did not derail his campaign. Claims of sexual abuse and drunkenness at a job did not prevent Pete Hegseth from becoming Secretary of Defense. And, of course, the continuing Epstein child sex scandal has triggered a clumsy attempt at a cover-up, perhaps to protect Trump and others.

Institutions Are Persons

It is not only the conduct of individuals that is indicative of the loss of a moral compass. Institutions are comprised of people, and therefore can exhibit the same questionable conduct as any person might. The moral decline of our institutions speaks volumes about the erosion of our national character. Since morality is the pretext upon which organized religion rests, these institutions of belief in a higher power provide a ready case study of the state of America’s morals and ethics. Consider:

• The percentage of Americans who regularly attend religious services indicates many of us no longer look to religion to provide moral guidance ⁴

• The corruption of various dominations is manifested in the hypocrisy of church leaders and clergy in dealing with a plethora of sex scandals. These range from the Catholic Church’s concealment of the pedophilia of its priests to the frequent news stories of the sexual transgressions by Protestant clergymen (e.g. affairs, pedophilia, and the homosexuality they preach against).

• Some religions act more as fundraising enterprises than congregtions of worshipers. We’re far beyond the tithe as the means of material support for Christian churches. In particular, many evangelical denominations are multi-million dollar operations, supporting mega-churches and pastors living wealthy lifestyles (private jets, lavish homes). The Catholic Church had a millennium-plus head start in Europe to enrich itself. In the US, we grant religious institutions tax-exempt status, a great incentive to raise as much money as possible.

• Religion and politics: In May, the IRS ruled that religious institutions may openly engage in political activity without losing their tax-exempt status, opening another pathway for dark money to influence politics. As the late Senator Sam Ervin said, “When religion controls government, political liberty dies; and when government controls religion, religious liberty perishes.“. This goes hand-in-hand with right-wing declarations that the US is a “Christian nation”. ⁵ It also underlies the right’s political positions on culture war issues such as abortion, gay rights, and attacks on DEI policies, as well as the spate of book-bannings that have arisen in recent years.

All religions are human creations, and all claim ownership of the truth. As such, they lack what the Israeli historian/philosopher Yuval Noah Harari⁶ describes as the capability for self-correction. This inability to correct and reform itself is prevalent among our most important institutions. Again, the failing is in plain sight.

Our system of capitalism has led to substantial income and wealth inequality in the richest nation on the planet. Dislocations in the economy like the 2008 collapse were brought on by the behavior of a financial sector that had created novel methods of “rent-seeking”⁷ in order to enrich those at the top. As former Labor Secretary Robert Reich points out:

“The moral crisis of our age has nothing to do with gay marriage or abortion; it’s insider trading, obscene CEO pa,y wage theft from ordinary workers, Wall Street’s continued gambling addiction, corporate payoffs to friendly politicians, and the billionaire takedover of our democracy.”

More prosaically, as Bob Dylan sang, "Money doesn't talk, it swears.” ( It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding).

The moral decay in society’s institutions ultimately falls under the umbrella of a political system that is no longer able to able to fight off the infections of the corruption it attracts. As long as people vie for power and wealth, governments will be subject to the machinations of the immoral and unscrupulous. In our history, such occurrences eventually gave way to reform movements such as the Progressives of the early 20th Century or FDR’s Depression-era New Deal.

This Time Is Different

Forty-four white men and one black man have been President of this nation. Some were good at the job, some were not. Some were exceptional (Washington, Lincoln, FDR), and some were bad (James Buchanan, Andrew Johnson). Most were flawed human beings, but they understood that they, in Wehner’s words, had to at least appear to be better than they were.

The forty-fifth white man, Donald Trump, does not understand the responsibility of the office, and I doubt he has the intellect to do so. What he does relish is the power he has and can wield indiscrimately. He is an immoral and unethical man, a convicted felon, an adjudicated sex offender, a man whom Republican consultant Mike Murphy said “became famous for firing Gilbert Gottfried on the cardboard set of The Apprentice.”

Yet, we the people elected him.

Trump’s Presidency is a reflection of the moral corruption of our society. I do not mean everyone, of course, or not even a majority: afterall, as the old saying goes, “one bad apple spoils the barrel”. Perhaps it a disillusion with a government that no longer seems to work for us, or an information landscape that mixes disinformation with cherry-picked facts in order to obscure the truth. It may be the result of the degradation of an education system that no longer equips the public for the responsibilities of citizenship in a democracy. It could be that we have become a complacent people, accustomed to material convenience, and without the sense of social responsibility to make the necessary efforts democracy requires.

I believe we are in the midst of a moral crisis. The culture we’ve grown in our social Petri dish has become contaminated. I cannot offer solutions, but I do think that whatever remedies prove to be viable must include a restoration of civic virtue, of a sense that “we” is as important as “me”, and that an extended period of reform in our future is imperative. This is where meaningful discussions must begin.

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1. This statement has been attributed to Thomas Jefferson, but according to monticello.org, “This quotation was well-known in the nineteenth century, and was in fact used by a number of famous figures, including Frederick Douglass, James Buchanan, William Henry Harrison, and Ida B. Wells. It can be traced back, ultimately, to John Philpot Curran [an Irish politician in a 1790 speech].”

2. Hammurabi’s Code and the Ten Commandments are examples of human inventions. Religious wars or the brutal practice of honor killings in some societies are perversions of morality.

3. From Note to the Young People's Society, Greenpoint Presbyterian Church, (1901)

4. You can check out the Pew Research Center’s Religious Landscape Survey here.

5. It is ironic that those claiming the US should be guided by Christian theology are often the same people who warn against being ruled by Sharia law.

6. Harari is the author of several books, the most well-known being Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind and Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI.

7. “Rent-seeking is a concept in economics that states that an individual or an entity seeks to increase their own wealth without creating any benefits or wealth to the society.” (CorporateFinanceInstittue.com)