Recent Commentaries

Top Ten Ethical Lapses of 2007
I don’t know about previous years, but 2007 certainly seemed to be a banner year for good and bad, (mostly bad) ethics-related stories. So many stories, so hard to choose… only ten! January 1, 2007 started when Eliot Spitzer, New York’s ethical sheriff, is sworn in as the 54th governor of that state. A key campaign pledge: ethics reform. “If there is...
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March 5, 2008
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It’s Ethics, Stupid!
The genesis of this site began with an experiment. I have long believed that ethics-related stories consistently dominate the news. You can’t open a major newspaper without finding at least one, usually more, ethics scandals in sections A and B. But I never sat down to take a closer look. So, from January 1 until December 31, 2007 I decided...
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March 3, 2008
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The Latest... And Often Greatest
Hearts and Minds
There’s a moment in Cool Hand Luke when Luke, played by Paul Newman, is returned to a prison camp after escaping. Determined to break his...
The Ethics of Belonging
I recently read a book by a man who has learned some of life’s hardest lessons and, by his own account, is still learning them...
The Best of Us
“We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things—not because they are easy, but because they are hard.” When...
The Standard Washington Set
Much has been written about George Washington, our first American president: his command of the Continental Army, his leadership in the fragile birth of a...
Who We Were. Who We Are…
Today, America is 250 years old. This Fourth of July, amid deep national division, it seems worth asking a simple question: Which of our country’s...
Are We Still Worthy of What They Declared?
Conclusion: The Words That Made Us and Still Must.  In December of 1776, the Revolution was not moving toward triumph. It was close to collapse....