Recent Ethics Commentaries

Featured image for “Who We Really Are And Can Be, Again”
Who We Really Are And Can Be, Again
SPECIAL EDITION – HOW PRESIDENT BIDEN CAN INSPIRE ALL OF US, TONIGHT. The New York Times asked four columnists to offer their own State of the Union speech. Columnist David Brooks’s words are the most honest, credible, humble, forward-thinking, and inspiring I’ve heard in years! Here’s what Brooks believes Biden should say, tonight. My fellow Americans: “People always talk about...
Read More
March 1, 2022
Featured image for “The Liberal Republican”
The Liberal Republican
Sometimes, those who have contributed mightily to their country slip below history’s radar. John Gilbert Winant was one of them. After serving two terms as the Republican Governor of New Hampshire, Democratic President Franklin Roosevelt tapped Winant to be the first head of the Social Security Board. While Republican colleagues called him “a Republican New Dealer,” Winant’s work so impressed...
Read More
February 18, 2022
Featured image for “At the Throat of American Democracy, Conclusion”
At the Throat of American Democracy, Conclusion
“To meet the challenge of our times, so that we can later look back upon this era not as one of which we need be ashamed but as a turning point on the way to a better America, we must first defeat the enemy within.”—Robert F. Kennedy How close did we come to the end of American democracy on January...
Read More
January 25, 2022
Featured image for “At the Throat of American Democracy, Part 2”
At the Throat of American Democracy, Part 2
On February 9, 1950, Senator Joseph R. McCarthy stood before the County Women’s Republican Club in West Virginia and stated, “I have here in my hand a list of 205 [State Department employees] that were known to the Secretary of State as being members of the Communist Party and who nevertheless are still working and shaping the policy of the...
Read More
January 21, 2022
Featured image for “At the Throat of American Democracy, Part 1”
At the Throat of American Democracy, Part 1
Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. — George Santayana, American writer, and philosopher On the one-year anniversary of the January 6 insurrection, President Joe Biden made clear that “The former president of the United States of America has created and spread a web of lies about the 2020 election. . . . [and] held a dagger at...
Read More
January 18, 2022
Featured image for “The Few. The Proud. The Stupid”
The Few. The Proud. The Stupid
It’s been little more than a year since the January insurrection where Senators and House members hid from an angry mob of Trump supporters, (And yes, Republicans, a majority of rational people know this. They’re just spending too much time on the bench to take action against what’s likely to come.) Now, with the surge of the Omicron, a variant...
Read More
January 14, 2022
Will We?
“I’m suggesting, Mr. President, that there’s a military plot to take over the government.” —Seven Days in May “People have got to understand the danger of President Trump and the danger that he posed on that day.” —Wyoming Republican congresswoman Liz Cheney Embed from Getty Images After the Cuban Missile Crisis, where America came within inches of a nuclear war...
Read More
January 7, 2022
Featured image for “Are Vaccination Mandates Ethical?”
Are Vaccination Mandates Ethical?
To mandate, or not to mandate, that is the question. For 18 months, Americans have tolerated masks, travel, and event restrictions, and virtual home hibernation. “Overall in the United States, 74.1 percent of Americans over five years old have at least one coronavirus shot, and 62.8 percent are fully vaccinated.” However, just when you thought it was safe to step...
Read More
November 30, 2021
Featured image for “How Do We Fix Facebook? – Part 2”
How Do We Fix Facebook? – Part 2
Easier said than done. However, Frances Haugen, the former Facebook data scientist who came forward with thousands of internal documents to back up her claims that the engagement-based algorithms created by the tech giant are used to deepen “divides, destabilize democracies, and make young girls and women feel bad about their bodies,” has been in talks with the House Judiciary...
Read More
October 22, 2021
Featured image for “That’s Their Mindset”
That’s Their Mindset
What do these four things have in common: money, status, power and politics? “Gamal Abdelaziz, a former hotel and casino executive is accused of paying $300,000 to get his daughter admitted to the University of Southern California as a basketball player based on false qualifications. “John Wilson, a private equity executive, is accused of paying $220,000 to get his son...
Read More
October 12, 2021

Read Some of the Most Recent Articles
The Latest... And Often Greatest
It Was Important Then. It is Important Today
Freedom of speech in America is under attack, not only when people are denied the right to speak, but when lies, intimidation and the deliberate...
When Political Identity Replaces Ethical Judgment
The political and cultural landscape has become a minefield of conflicting beliefs, many now rooted less in public policy than in personal identity. One of...
Principles Matter.
A few nights ago, I was watching The Way We Were, a film I’ve seen more times than I can count. This time, a single...
All the President’s Men 2.0
“Politics had infiltrated every corner of government—a strong-arm takeover of the agencies by the Nixon White House.” —Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, All the President’s...
The Threat to November Is Already Here
“Cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government.”—George Washington’s...
Jon Ossoff and the Conscience of Atticus Finch
I’ve written about Georgia Senator Jon Ossoff before, but after watching his questioning of Jay Clayton, President Trump’s nominee for director of national intelligence (DNI),...