Recent Ethics Commentaries

Trump and the First Amendment – Conclusion
Trump has been banned from all social media. That’s good news, right? Embed from Getty Images Gone is the misinformation, false conspiracy theories, lies, bigotry and personal attacks. Perhaps, more importantly, gone is the media’s Fugitive-like obsession, (well, not completely), in covering every tweet, twitch and tongue lashing coming from his chubby fingers. But… …what about Trump’s First Amendment rights...
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March 22, 2021
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Fantasy v. Reality
“Ignorance and fanaticism is ever busy and needs feeding. Always it is feeding and gloating for more.” – Clarence Darrow The moon landing was faked. The Holocaust never happened. Mass shootings were staged by the government. All have been disproved, but despite the evidence, too many see it all as “fake” news. While Donald Trump has been the grand purveyor...
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March 15, 2021
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It’s Still Ethics, Stupid!
Last week was the 13th anniversary of ItsEthicsStupid.com, (I’m exhausted), and it began after a comment that was consistently repeated after my talks: Your message could not be more timely.” Sadly, that remains truer than ever. The following three stories come from a 2020 top ten list, compiled by Jaclyn Jaeger for “Compliance Week,” an online resource for compliance managers...
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March 8, 2021
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It’s Time
“…to live with integrity, it is sometimes necessary to take that difficult step – to get involved – to fight openly for what one believes to be true and right and good, even when there is risk to oneself.” – Stephen Carter, Integrity Republican Representatives Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger, and Nebraska Senator Ben Sasse unquestionably meet that standard. This is...
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February 10, 2021
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History Will Record
Among the books in my library is a series from TIME/LIFE entitled, The Decades. In words and images from 1910 to the 1990s, editors have distilled each decade’s most notable events. For example, the ’60s: Vietnam, racism, assassinations, Woodstock, the space program – each volume memorializes the triumphs and tragedies of the American landscape. If the series continues, editors are...
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January 29, 2021
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What Lies Ahead
I was all set to post Monday’s commentary Sunday night when I realized that it was another piece reacting to the chaos, and rage surrounding Washington. It was about the country living with a cancer of hate and division that has not been seen in decades. It was about facing the greatest health crisis in 100 years and many individuals...
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January 19, 2021
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This is Not Us as a Democracy – Part 1
The Incitement — There’s an old Russian fable that goes like this… A scorpion asks a frog to carry it across a river on the frog’s back. Afraid of being stung, the frog hesitates. The scorpion argues that if it did that, they’d both drown. The frog considers this sensible and agrees to carry the scorpion. Midway across the river,...
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January 13, 2021
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Who Was Senator Philip Hart and Why is His Example Vitally Important Today?
“This building is dedicated by his colleagues to the memory of Philip A. Hart with affection, respect, and esteem. A man of incorruptible integrity and personal courage strengthened by inner grace and outer gentleness, he elevated politics to a level of purity that will forever be an example to every elected official. He advanced the cause of human justice, promoted...
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January 11, 2021
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Pursuit of Excellence
While Americans continue to struggle with a deadly virus and financial starvation, excellence in national leadership has been reduced to a group of toxic enablers that appeal to an insular “base” that promotes our worst impulses instead of our best. The ’60s suffered its own challenges. Civil rights. Vietnam. The assassination of three political leaders. But then something stunning happened....
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January 4, 2021
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Trust but Verify
In the Contemporary Ethics class held at the New Hampshire Technical Institute where I assist in teaching, the one value I spend the greatest amount of time discussing is the most vital, Trust. Vital because of the number of the additional values that are essential. Using the Josephson Institute’s list of core ethical values, trust encompasses four separate values: Honesty...
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December 17, 2020

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),...