Last November, immediately following the presidential election, Wade Clark Roof, director of the Capps Center for the Study of Ethics, Religion and Public Life and I asked more than 3,300 likely voters what “qualities do you think the country needs most from the new president” and, “what actions would you like to see accomplished most by the new president and Congress?” The top...

We all have responsibilities to family, friends, co-workers, and employers, to name just a few.  But the ethical value of responsibility goes beyond individuals and institutions within our own circle to include our community, country, as well as the world at large. I’ve talked about David Krieger before.  Founder of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, David has served as the organization’s...

The big political news on both the Internet and cable channels was not President Obama’s “First 100 Days.”  It was the announcement from the five-term former Republican Senator from Pennsylvania. “In a stunning turnabout in political loyalties,” the New York Times reported, “Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania… announced he was leaving the Republican Party to become a Democrat.” Was it due to...

President Obama has called for “a new era of responsibility… Transparency and the rule of law will be the touchstones of this presidency.”  Last week he pointed to “a confidence gap, when it comes to the American people… [and said] we’ve got to earn their trust.” So, when it comes to responsibility and openness, how is Mr. Obama doing?  Is...

Here we go again! What’s the difference between Somali pirates and credit card executives? If you ask a growing number of Americans – many of whom have been hit with higher interest rates recently – not much. According to a Fox News report (Apr. 23), “‘Bank of America is doing the most dramatic changes I’ve seen,’ said Emily Peters, a personal-finance...

A weekend conversation with a friend prompted the following: “Why be ethical?  What’s the payoff?” The standard fall-back:  “Virtue is its own reward.” Another might be the adage by Louis Armstrong when asked the definition of Jazz: “If you have to ask… you’ll never know.” The reality is that most of us face issues that challenge our ethical integrity on a regular basis.   » Read...

Occasionally, someone will ask, “Why do you use stories to give us the message?  Why not cut to the chase and just give us the message?” Stan Williams’s excellent book, The Moral Premise: Harnessing Virtue and Vice for Box-Office Success was written with that question in mind.  Here’s an edited version of a question about that issue and Stan’s response from his blog.  » Read...

What do octuplets’ mom Nadya Suleman and former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich have in common? They both share a desperate/obsessive need for drama played out in the media. Wednesday, the embattled Blagojevich pleaded not guilty to 16 federal criminal counts stemming from a variety of corruption and kickback schemes that included an exchange of money for the Senate seat vacated...

What’s the definition of a public servant? You would think that it means an individual who is elected or appointed to serve the public.  But apparently, that’s not a definition embraced by former Republican Senator Norm Coleman. Last Monday, (April 13) a three-judge panel in Minnesota certified that Democrat Al Franken was the victor in the 2008 Senate race against...

“Some people hope for a miracle cure Some people just accept the world as it is But I’m not willing to lay down and die Because I am an innocent man…”             – Billy Joel, “Innocent Man,” 1983 Considering the “cure” that happened last week when a federal judge dismissed the ethics conviction against former Senator Ted Stevens,  » Read more about: An...